Salud C. approached me by late May letting me know she registered to the Chicago Marathon. Two runners she trusts referred her to me, and her goal was to improve the PR set in her first incursion in the 26.2 monster. She ran a solid 3:21 the previous November with no structured training. She and her friend trained for the race based on whatever they felt their bodies needed to become acclimated for the challenge. Her natural talent was obvious.
We started the training focusing on improving her cardiovascular system, which was quite a challenge. She was frustrated about not being able to push hard and could not fathom how running slow now would make her faster come race day. It was frustrating for both athlete and coach. I ask her to please trust the process and to talk to the runners who referred her to me to vouch for my knowledge on the subject. After she decided to trust the process and continue working together, improvement started.
She is such a gifted athlete that fitting all her physical activities and making them part of the plan became an interesting challenge. She likes century bike rides on the weekends, which were accommodated into her aerobic training. She progressed so fast that 18 and 20 milers were done routinely without need for additional recovery. The challenge became to hold her back so she wouldn’t peak before the marathon.