Progress with the NYRR Virtual Trainer

Like I mentioned in my last post, I won 1st place in my age group in the Heart Run. I definitely was not expecting that and didn’t even stay for the awards ceremony. But, this week I received this in the mail. So cool! 🙂

Having won an age group 1st place finish really boosts my confidence.  I have ran that race faster, but haven’t run it at all in years so this is good 🙂

And I feel like I owe it to my NYRR Virtual trainer. I love this program.

What I like most about the virtual trainer is that I don’t have to think about what I need to do as far as my runs go. The trainer schedules it all for me and sends me notices for the next day’s work-out. I don’t normally like being told what to do, but in this case, yes! just spell it out for me. I love that!

I also like the fact that you can select manage and change the date for your long runs or day off.  This is important to me because as a nurse, I work long hours and one week-end each month. I just can’t work a 12 hour plus shift and then go home and run 8 miles. Once you change the days, the program will automatically adjust the scheduled runs for the entire week to accommodate the changes that you make. For instance, if my long run is on Saturday and I switch it to Friday, then it may change my speed work-out from Wednesday to maybe Tuesday. These are things that seem simple and easy, but I don’t want to have to think about it. I just want to run.

This program also gives great tips, educational points, and reminders related to my training.  I can log my runs and share with the running community if I want. I can also contact my online coach for clarification or questions related to my training. I usually have a response by the next day (I am in the Alaska time zone so 4 hour time difference). I can also select analysis to see how things are going and compare to previous training that I have done. There are other features as well, these are the ones I use the most.

Okay, maybe I got a little carried away with this ha ha. It wasn’t my intent…I don’t have any vested or promotional interest….It’s just that so far (fingers crossed) , the training has been going so well.  I am so happy to just be running and to be running without pain (insertional achilles tendonitis) is a bonus. I ran a pretty good track work-out yesterday and felt so good afterwards. It was hard, but just hard enough. I didn’t feel wiped out afterwards. I actually felt great!

 

My next couple of runs for the week are easy 3 milers and then a 9 mile run on Saturday. I am actually looking forward to this run. Just hoping I don’t run into any moose or bears! 🙂 They have been out and about on the trails. Yikes!