A New Running Coach

I've followed Jeff Galloway’s run-walk-run training plan for many years now. I've used it to run all 5 of my marathons, 5 half marathons, uncountable 10 and 5k’s. It's the only way I would have ever become a runner and stayed one without injury. But in the last few years I've started to feel like I could do more. I want to see if I can get faster, and Jeff’s plan is not built for speed. I want to try and see how much better I can get, but not at the risk of injury, and not using a plan made for runners 30 years younger than I am!

I've gotten a newsletter from a coach in Canada for a couple years who works specifically with older women runners. I like his philosophy and I've been intrigued by his claims of faster times without injury using a plan tailored to runners like me. He gives his clients lots of individual attention, but he's very expensive, so I've stayed away until now. I finally decided that mom would have rolled her eyes at me for using a little of her money to pay for a 6 month coaching session with Bennett Cohen, but she wouldn't be too upset, so I gave myself permission and went for it!

I've been working with Bennett now for almost three months and I have to say, I'm pretty astonished at the progress I've made. One of the first things he did was have me run a  1 mile test, similar to what Jeff would do. Using my results Bennett given me a 6 week base building training plan and a 6 week strength building training plan, including running specific strengthening exercises, and specific amounts of non-running aerobic exercise to do on my non-running days. Before I run Grandma’s Marathon in June I will receive one more 6 week plan, which will include speed training and my final taper before the marathon.

The biggest differences so far? Well I'm still only running 3 or 4 days a week, and I don't expect that will change. And I'm still using run-walk-run, although I've increased the running portion of my intervals slightly. But each day's run is challenging in a different way. During the base building Tuesday's runs were tempo runs, where I ran increasingly longer distances at close to a 10k pace. During the current strength building  portion of the plan, Tuesday’s runs are hill repeats, but they are longer, faster and include more repeats than any hill training I have ever done before. Thursday's runs are "threshold" runs, run at a steady pace that is close to a half marathon pace. Friday's are short Fartlek runs, alternating a fast 10k pace for a minute with a two minute slower recovery. Sunday's runs are my long slow runs, but even they vary between regular LSD runs, progression runs, where every couple of miles I run a little bit faster, and marathon pace runs, where I practice running at marathon pace.

It's fun having so much variety to my runs. The runs are all challenging, in different ways. I'm running faster for longer periods of time, than I ever have before. And because of the strengthening exercises I seem to be handling the increased load without too much trouble. There is still plenty of recovery time built in to the plan.

Not only do we track my training, but we also track my weight, my sleep, and my resting heart rate, all factors that can affect my times, and indicate overtraining.

The only downsides I’ve noticed, if they can be called that is that I’m frequently pretty tired. I’ve even taken a nap or two in the afternoon, and I’m sleeping 8+ hours a night, unheard-of for me. I’m also gaining a little weight, but my clothes don’t seem be be getting tighter, so it might just be muscle. I can hope anyway! My resting heart rate has been getting lower, and lower, and lower. Its down to 61 bpm, from a high of 75 when I started the plan, a sure sign that my overall fitness is increasing.

I don't how this will all end. When I ran the San Francisco RocknRoll Half Marathon a couple of weeks ago, I handled the very hilly course really well. I ran a good race considering the course. I felt strong throughout the race, but it wasn’t a PR and I felt a little disappointed about that. We've set a pretty ambitious time goal for Grandma's Marathon. I don't quite believe I can do it, not yet anyway. But each time I complete one of my training runs, and realize that yes I did just run x amount of miles at a relatively fast pace, and I feel FINE, I get a little more confident that I'm improving. I’m never going to be a really fast runner, but with any luck by June I'm going to be faster. Just how much faster? We'll just have to wait and see!

Nerdy little treatise on the 10k I ran last night

I ran a 10k in Rye, NH yesterday evening. Rye is a pretty little town on the New Hampshire sea coast, about an hour from Salem. For about 4 weeks before the race I added 400 meter repeats to my training. But when I would do my practice race runs I just didn't feel very confident. I was worried about the weather, afraid that it would be very warm, and concerned that I would run the risk of injuring myself if I went all out.

So I decided to change my strategy. Instead of setting an ambitious time goal for myself I decided to not worry about my time that much, and instead concentrate on running negative splits. Negative splits mean that you run the second half of a race faster than the first half. It's what every runner wants to do, but in the excitement of a race it's really, really hard. Everyone gets caught up in the excitement at the beginning and before you know it you're running faster than you should. It feels fine at first, but you pay for it later.

As I pulled into the parking lot for the race lightening flashed across the sky and a sudden downpour started. It only lasted a couple of minutes but it was enough to drop the temperature several degrees, from over 80 to around 75. This was great, but I wasn't going to let that change my plan. I was going to run the first part of this race slow no matter what!

I found the race start, picked up my registration materials and did my usual warmup routine. Each age division was color coded by a dot on your race bib. This was my first race in the 60-69 group. I had a green dot on my bib. I walked around looking at all the other bibs, trying to find other women with green dots. I only saw a few.

This race had an interesting method for giving out tshirts. Not everyone in the race automatically got a tshirt. They had enough tshirts for about half of the runners, distributed evenly through the different divisions according to the number of runners in that division. There were 17 women in the 60-69 age group and 11 of them would get tshirts. There were over 600 runners in this race. Most of them of course were in their 20's, 30's and 40's, but that was still a pretty good number of women in their 60's.

The first 3 miles of the race were a gradual uphill. I planned to run this part between 11:05 and 11:15 miles per minute. That's probably 15 seconds slower than I would normally run the start of a 10k, but I really wanted to see if I could gradually get faster and control my pace.

The fun part of running a race like this is gradually passing so many people, and feeling very fit and confident for most of the race. It was nice to not get tired early for once. I actually got to practice the "rubber band" technique that good runners talk about, where you pretend to throw a rubber band around the runner ahead of you and then use the band to pull yourself closer to them and then past them. This is all just in your imagination of course!

After mile three I increased my pace to between 10:55 and 11:05 miles per minute, still pretty slow. This part of the race was level and slightly downhill. At mile 4 I increased my pace again, to between 10:45 and 10:55 miles per minute. I still felt great.

I was doing my usual run-walk-run routine, which for a 10k means I run 1 minute and walk 20 seconds. One woman called me "sprint girl" so I explained to her what I was doing. She ran with me for a bit, but my pace was too fast for her after awhile. I told her to google Jeff Galloway and told her to have fun for the rest of the race.

After mile five there was only a little over a mile to go. Now was the time to see what I could do! I gradually increased my pace, until at the end I was running around 10:15 miles per minute. This was a pretty fast pace for me in a 10k. I definitely achieved my goal and ran a decisive negative split. I got to see how good that felt - it felt great!

But then I had to deal with my ego. My final time was 1:08, 4 minutes slower than the 10k I ran in Newton last year. It was all too easy to feel disappointed in myself, but I tried not to mind. Plus, the way you found out if you got a tshirt was if you were handed a Popsicle stick at the end of the race. Nobody handed me a stick, so no tshirt for Lynn.

I grabbed some water, a banana and a slice of watermelon and headed back to my car for the long drive home. I was a little surprised that I didn't get a tshirt but I tried not to mind. I ran my negative split and it was fine, right?

After I got home, took a shower and ate some dinner I sat down with my iPad before it was time for bed. There was already an email with the race results. I came in 11th in my division. I looked to see how the other women in the 60-69 age division did and I was in for a surprise. The first 9 finishers in my group all ran the race at an 8 minute mile pace. That's really good, better than my pace for a 5k! The woman that came in 10th ran it in 1:04, which is my best 10k time.

But I came in 11th, and I think I should have gotten a tshirt. I sent the race director a note but I haven't heard anything yet. I don't really care about the shirt, but it's the principle of the thing.

But who were all these speedy 60 year olds? I wonder if this race attracted a lot of good runners because it's part of a race series. I really have no idea, but I have to say I was very impressed by their times, whoever they are, and humbled too.

At the end of every race I always feels like I could have done better. This time I found myself thinking that I could have run faster and still had negative splits, and I'm sure that's correct. But this was the right thing to do for this race. Now it's time to concentrate on the rest of my marathon training. In a little over two months I'll be running through the streets of St. Louis. There are a few little local 5ks coming up in the next month that are enticing, however. I might decide to run in one of them, just for fun, of course.....

Lake Tahoe Runner's Retreat - The Gory Details

I arrived in Reno without mishap, went and got our rental car, parked it in the airport garage, and went to wait for Lee, who was coming in on a later flight. Unfortunately his flight was a bit delayed, so I had to wait about an extra half hour before he arrived. I ate at an old-fashioned diner at the Reno airport that was very good - bison burger and tomato basil soup. I walked around, enjoying the blue skies and crisp sunny air, and watching all the VFW soldiers and their families arriving at the airport for a big convention being held in Reno that weekend. Finally Lee arrived, we grabbed his bags, got in the car, and off we went to Squaw Valley.

We checked into the Squaw Valley Lodge, walked around the Village (cute), tried out the pool (COLD!), and got settled in our room. Before too long it was almost 5 pm, time for me to throw on some running clothes and go meet the other runners and participate in our first group run. I was excited, and nervous.

I walked out to the lobby, and there was Jeff Galloway! Once I told him my name he actually knew who I was from coaching me via email for my first two marathons! It was fun to meet him, his wife, and a few of the people that work at his shoe store in Atlanta.

There were not a whole lot of participants for the weekend camp, maybe 15 total. The week long camp has 45 people; the weekend is a more intimate group. It's nice to get so much individual attention, but it's a pretty crowded schedule too, with runs, hikes, meals and clinics filling almost every available minute of the day.

We set our watches and timers and started on an easy out-and-back run from the lodge. There were runners of different speeds and abilities. I fit into the slower group, and for this run I was probably the slowest. I tried to tell myself this was okay. After I'd just crossed 3 time zones, flown for 7 hours, and climbed 6,000 feet in elevation! But my ego disagreed, and I strived mightily to stay up with the slower group.


It was a beautiful run, with the mountains soaring in the distance, and a bright blue sky overhead. It was a little warm however, in the mid70s. By a mile and a half I was ready to turn around but my little group encouraged me to stay with them until we reached the two mile turn-around. I faded at the end, just like I often do in a race, and felt a little discouraged. This was what I had feared would happen, pokey Lynn trailing way behind everyone else. I tried not to mind, but I did.

Dinner was very good, and my spirits picked up after having a little something to eat. We had our first clinic after the race, where the shoe people talked about proper shoe fit and the characteristics of the many, many shoes available today. Interesting, and confusing. We also went around the room and introduced ourselves. We were runners of all shapes, sizes and abilities, some of whom had been coming to Jeff's camp for more than 17 years!

By 9 pm I was drop dead tired and ready for bed. My body thought it was midnight, and I had to be ready for a 6 am run in the morning.

I slept great and was up by 5, ready to try this running thing again. I checked the weather; it was 43 degrees! I decided on tights, long sleeves, a beanie for my head and that turned out to be perfect. I ended up leaving my gloves behind and I was okay, but I wouldn't have minded having them either.

We carpooled a short distance up the highway to a parking lot by a bike trail. The faster runners took a trail that led them over a mountain and back to the lodge. The rest of us ran the bike trail along the river. This time I had no trouble keeping up with the slower group. The temps were better and I guess I'm getting used to the altitude. It certainly made my little ego feel better!

After the run there was time for a quick shower and breakfast, and then we had the morning clinics. Jeff gave a great presentation about mental preparation for running and reviewed the components of his program. You think by now I'd know everything there is to know about run-walk-run, but I really picked up some pointers from hearing him speak and being able to ask questions. There are a few changes I'm going to make to my training when I get home, just from this morning's talk.

THEN we had the opportunity to have ourselves videotaped running and having our stride and foot fall evaluated by a sports podiatrist, Dave Hannaford. Besides being a little embarrassing this was a great chance to find out that I don't look like a complete idiot when running, that my form isn't that bad, and that I'm wearing a good pair of shoes for my feet. I was also able to talk to him a little about my bunions and he even made a temporary pair of orthotics for my shoes out of felt! If I decide I like them he will even work with me long distance to make me a permanent pair.




After lunch and more clinics we went on a hike on the Shirley Trail, that climbs the mountain outside our hotel. The trail goes all the way up to High Camp at the top of the mountain, but we only went up about halfway. It was a beautiful hike but they said it very dry this year.

Last year there was still snow on parts of the trail and in fact a couple of the participants got lost because they couldn't see the trail markers because they were buried in the snow. They had their cellphones though and were rescued safe and sound. It's not that wild really.

After the hike I went and sat at the pool for awhile. I started talking to one of the guys from Jeff's shoe store and found out he was born in Hong Kong and has been back there to visit several times. We had fun talking about the city and I told him about Bowen Road and the Peak, as good running spots in the city.

After dinner Jeff told a few very inspiring stories about the Olympic runners he had known (Jeff ran the 10k in the 1972 Olympic Games). The main point of these stories were how these people really rehearsed their success mentally and had an extraordinary amount of determination and grit. I often think about this when I am running in a race and I get tired. Part of my brain wants to keep running hard and part of it is going "I can't! I can't! I can't!" My negative brain often wins, and then 15 minutes after a race I'm disappointed in myself and think I could have done better. I keep talking about my brain because although the effort hurts physically, it seems like its the mental part that causes me to slow down. Jeff gave us some pointers on overcoming this tendency to let our negative thoughts take over. If I'm going to use them effectively I'm going to have to start practicing them when I train. Well, okay!

This morning, Sunday, was our final run. We ran along Lake Tahoe, and I'm glad. It wouldn't be right to go all the way to Squaw Valley and not see the lake! I ambled along happily, sometimes by myself, sometimes with other runners. Some of the others actually saw a bear! I'm a little jealous, and a little glad it wasn't me.

At the end of the run a few of the braver runners jumped into the icy waters of the lake, but most of us gingerly took off our shoes and socks and waded in a little ways. Once the initial shock wore off it actually felt pretty good!

One more breakfast and that was the end of the camp. I met some really nice people, had a lot of fun, learned a lot, and gained more confidence in my running. I'd like to go back again someday, maybe do the week long camp. We'll see!

Now Lee is on his way to Asia and I'm on my way back to New Hampshire. My flight gets in very late, so my plan is to sleep late, go get Harper, and NOT RUN! I haven't run three days in a row in years and my body really feels it. This runner is ready for a day off from running.

Lake Tahoe Runner's Retreat - The Prequel

This entry was written last week, before my weekend at the Jeff Galloway Runner's Retreat.


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I feel like I'm making my way backwards in time. I had to get up at 3 am this morning in order to catch my 6 am flight out of Manchester. I've never flown out of Manchester before. I don't think it's much closer than Boston really, but it's a smaller, less crazy airport (1 terminal vs 4) and in this case my Southwest flight was cheaper and more direct. There aren't any non-stops from Boston to Reno anyway, so it didn't really matter which airport I traveled out of.

My flight made it to Chicago 20 minutes early and now I'm on the second flight to Reno. From there I'll pick up a rental car, meet Lee who is coming on a different flight, and head to the Squaw Valley Lodge in Olympic City, California.

I'm both excited and nervous about this weekend. I've fantasized about doing this for years, ever since I became a more serious Galloway Runner. What is a Galloway Runner you ask? Well I'll be happy to tell you....it's someone who follows Jeff Galloway's training methods, that involve adding walking breaks to almost all training runs. It's also known as run-walk-run. Since adding walk breaks to my training my race times have improved and I have avoided injury completely. I have run 2 marathons and I am training for my third.

But I am a slow runner. I run a marathon in around 5.5 hours, a half marathon in 2.5, a 10k in a little over an hour, a 5k in a little over 30 minutes. I work hard on my training, but I have little natural talent for running, any more than I have for any physical activity. My legs are short and my lungs are small. I belong to a family of women with large thighs and big butts.

But I love running! I like the solitary nature of the sport, interspersed with the camadarie of racing. I like the fact that the only person I am competing against at my level is really myself. I like that turning 60 puts me in the next age group and automatically improves my times! I hope to still be jogging along when I'm 70, and beyond.

But I don't know what this weekend will be like. I could very well be the slowest runner there and will have to struggle with my embarrassed little ego as the other runners disappear into the sunset. The altitude could very well affect me, but I'm taking medication for it just in case. Will the other runners scoff that I'd like to record this weekend on my gps watch? Will I dress too warmly or not warmly enough? What if I have to pee on a long run (it happens)? The list of my potential worries goes on....

But Lee will be there (as a non-participating spouse) and he is always my fervent cheer-leader in the running department. And Sherry posted something great on Facebook this morning. "Do not be envious of people that are better than you. Be challenged." It's true, besides learning from running with other runners and attending the clinics this weekend, I can also learn a lot from watching and listening to the other participants, so that's what I will try to do instead of worrying about myself. Wish me luck!