Transistioning into Running - from Fitness into Competition & My Own Personal Experience!

"If winning is the only thing that rescues athletes from wasting their time training, then there are a lot of unhappy people wasting their time running" -Jack Daniels

When deciding to take running and training to the next level, there are always adjustments that need to be made. When making the decision to get serious about training and competing, here are the typical adjustments that are made...

1. Increased weekly mileage or time spent running
2. Running 5-7 days per week or more on a regular basis
3. Threshold, speed work, and interval runs are introduced into there weekly routine

There are risks that individuals take when adding these adjustments into there current running routine. It increases your risk of injury. It can take your fitness running routine from something you enjoy into something that you can no longer perform because of an injury. Instead of just rushing into training hard 6 days a week with threshold and speed work runs, make sure you have some planning behind your weekly running routine. You need some type of plan to follow. Whether you research on your own, or better yet find guidance from a specialized coach or trainer, you must ease yourself into a program that is individualized to you. Not every individual is at the same fitness level and following a program that doesn't fit you is only setting yourself up for failure...

Here is my personal experience with running....

My history with running goes back farther than I can even remember. I played soccer for 16 years and within that time I spent many years running. I was an extremely active kid. I always enjoyed running. Not necessarily as a sport, but just for the love of listening to music and running. Also just to stay in shape. Through out my life there were a number of times that I tried track and field. When I was in 6th grade I won the hurdles competition for our track and field day. I was always the top female and almost always the top finisher in our class for the 1 mile run. I ran track when I was younger and in middle school. I did not like having to run when I was told but it kept me in shape for the soccer season. In high school I tried track and field for a couple weeks, but just couldn't do it. Finally in college once I was done with my 4 years of soccer I was asked to run track and field for UMD but at the time just wanted to focus on my marathon running (Grandmas Marathon). When I was in middle school and high school, my family had a treadmill in our basement. Everyday after school before dinner I would run for a hour and listen to my CD player (NSYNC & Back Street Boys). Runs after runs after runs I actually broke our family treadmill from running on it too much! Oops :).

For soccer on the other hand, going into my freshman year trying out for the high school soccer team I found out that playing my usual position (goal keeper) there was an upper classman that would have played above me. I decided to try out as  a field player instead because I knew if I were to play varsity I would have to switch my position. I made JV my freshman year and varsity every year after that. I played defense and barely remember seeing the bench. We made it to state all 3 years and finished 2nd in state my senior year at Lakeville North High School. Outside of high school soccer I played goal keeper for a very competitive soccer team every other season of the year. I played for St. Croix. We traveled the country for tournaments and were top in our Minnesota for our age group. To stay in shape for my high school soccer season and in general I would run outside of soccer along with the sprints we did at soccer. I am not saying that goal keeper isn't a hard position, but not as much physical activity as playing on the field.

Once soccer was done after my 4 collegiate years at UMD, I decided I needed something else to keep me competition. The year before my senior year playing soccer for UMD, one of my professors told me that less than 1% of the nation has completed a marathon. I had thought to do one, but this had me signing up to run Grandmas Marathon for my first time in 2008. With soccer training and doing extra running on my own I trained for my very first marathon.

Check out the link for my results - I ended up placing 16th out of all the women, running a time of 3:07:58!
http://www.marathonguide.com/results/browse.cfm?MIDD=42080621&Gen=F&Begin=1&End=100&Max=2524

Another person that inspired me the most and continues to inspire me today, is one amazing female runner and athlete, Kara Goucher. At Duluth my assistant coach Kelly Wheeler, this is her sister. On a couple of occasions, Kara & Adam Goucher came and spoke to our soccer team. She placed 11th in the 2012 summer Olympics with a time of 2:26.07. She an U.S. woman American runner and is sponsored by Nike on top of a number of other amazing accomplishments. I aspire to someday get to the level of running she is at. It is my dream. In the 2011 Boston Marathon, I had the opportunity to run in the same race as Kara. I remembered struggling through an injured hip flexor up until a month out from the race mostly cross training on the stair master. Crossing that finish line was one of the best feelings I have ever felt in my life. In pain, tears, and exhaustion I broke my personal record at the time after kicking my butt for hours on a stair master day after day.

Boston Marathon Results 2011 Top 100 Females (I placed 77th, time 2:57:32)
http://www.marathonguide.com/results/browse.cfm?MIDD=15110418&Gen=F&Begin=1&End=100&Max=10073

Now here I sit, just running the best race of my life to this point at Grandmas Marathon 2013 running a 2:48:54 and placing 14th out of the woman. A personal record by exactly 8 minutes. This was my 6th Grandmas Marathon after running it the 5 years prior. (I have ran 9 marathons - Grandmas Marathon 6 times, Twin Cities Marathon, Sacramento Marathon, and Boston Marathon). Grandmas Marathon made everything real for me. Being a sponsored running (Nike someday) and in the Olympics has always been a dream, but I didn't know it was going to be this real after June. I couldn't be more excited for Chicago this October in hopes of an Olympic trials time and to further my running career.

This is my running career from fitness to competition to this point of my life highlighting some of the special events along the way. There is so much more and I look forward to someday putting it all together in my book "Run With Me".

Please feel free to post your own personal experiences!

Happy Experiences of Running :)