You Can Teach an Old Dog New Tricks!
When I first heard about the Training Studio I was a very casual jogger who had no clue what I was doing. I had completed one previous marathon in 2002 in 5 hours, 12 minutes. While I was ecstatic that I finished it, my training left a lot to be desired. I ran all my long runs around the 1.2-mile Seneca Park track – countless agonizing, boring laps by myself. I continued to run, but more for exercise than enjoyment, never doing another race. I liked it but didn’t love it.
In 2007, a friend of mine asked me to run the Kentucky Derby Mini-Marathon with him. He said he was doing his long runs with a group of runners at The Training Studio and that I should join him. I knew I didn’t want to repeat my previous experience in training so I agreed to try it out. Right away I realized this is what I needed to get me through the race. Everyone was helpful and encouraging, especially to a first-timer like me. I ended up running that race and beating my original goal time by 22 minutes.
Instead of being another one and done race like I thought, I found I really, really loved to run. I ended up doing what I never thought I would— committing to another marathon. I trained, listened to what the coaches told me and found this training to be much more effective than when I blundered about on my own. Also, because I was running with new friends I had made in the group, I actually looked forward to the Saturday long runs instead of dreading them. I ended up qualifying for Boston in my second marathon – which I knew I couldn’t have done without my coaches and the other runners in the group.
After a bad injury last spring, I started to pay a lot more attention to what Dale, Todd and Stacey had to say about strength training, nutrition and stretching. Instead of spending a half hour in the gym on cross-training twice a week with minimal effort, I started coming to the strength training offered by the studio (I was shocked when I realized what a waste cross-training had been on my own). I also put a lot more effort into utilizing what Todd taught about proper nutrition while racing and training. And after 45 years of ignoring stretching, I finally became a believer in Stacey’s techniques. Since then, I’ve bounced back from my injury and have had several PR’s. Over the 3 years I’ve been training with The Training Studio, I’ve made some great friends who are always supportive and encouraging.
Thanks for taking this lost jogger out of the wilderness and showing him “The Way”.
R. Metz