Valentina L. is an extremely busy woman. A mother, wife, nurse, and student who, on top of it, loves to run. She fits her runs into her daily routine and has no problem running 20 miles during an day off in between 12-hour shifts at the hospital. Simultaneously, she still pursues her higher education goals. How does she juggle all this? I do not know, but she just completed her second marathon.
I met Valentina about 18 months ago when she wanted to become a marathoner. She embraced the training program I wrote for her and completed the 2022 Palm Beach Marathon in 4:19. She finished strong, smiling, and knowing she could eventually run so much better. So, she planned to repeat West Palm Beach for 2023 and also threw in Miami 2024 into the mix. The going got tough, but Valentina was tougher and persevered.
We adjusted her training every two weeks as soon as she got her shift schedule at the hospital. Yet, amid obtaining her masterās degree a bout with Covid, goals were on a regular basis. She switched to the half in Palm Beach, where she PRād (1:58), and then continued training for Miami during the final stretch before college graduation. Marathon day was hot, humid, and training was not optimal. Yet, Valentina stuck to the race plan, did not try to do too much, and finished strong, two minutes off her PR, while so many runners limped through the finish line.
As her coach, I canāt wait to see what Valentina can do with a complete, full training cycle, now that she has two marathons under her belt. Going sub-4 and obtaining a BQ are worthy goals awaiting her around the corner. Thatās what you can do when you commit yourself to making it happen.