No Time to Crash & Burn
Time to Shape Up or Ship Out!
Happy Friday, everyone! I have a few new readers joining, so I’ll start with a quick recap of who I am and what I’ve been up to.
If you don’t know me, I’m Marc. I am an often-injured runner who found success in high school and went on to run track and cross country at Villanova.
After an up-and-down collegiate career, I moved to the roads where, you guessed it, I battled back from multiple injuries.
I’ve been officially coaching since 2009 and started my business, TrainwithMarc, right at the end of 2010.
I put two stars in my logo to represent the two Meet of Champions titles I won, but it could just as much represent the two kids I have.
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Racing Updates
It’s been a little bit since I last raced - I did Broad Street and then two weeks later a road mile (where I broke 5 minutes for the mile for the 24th different (not consecutive) year.
My athletes have done really well lately, despite the tough summer conditions we’ve already had.
Thanks to all the runners who’ve trusted me with training this summer:
Jeremy & Karam are training for their upcoming cross country seasons
Michael & Amee are training for the NYC marathon
Lisa is training for a big PR in the marathon
Lauren is gearing up for a PR in the half marathon
Austin & Bill are getting their feet wet in distance running and learning how to pace themselves
Tips and Advice
I’m moving into a marathon block of training - my first since the winter of 2018/2019 - and I’m nervous, but also excited. I am in the middle of some pre-training (getting back in shape and building a routine for future marathon work) and came down with a bit of a hamstring issue.
While it’s never fun to be injured, this is rather minor and more of a nuisance than anything. I’ve seen a specialist, have dropped my mileage, taken extra days off, and I hope to add some cross training in soon.
I thought about whether a setback now (before training really kicks off) is better than a setback when you’re really fit. I don’t know which I prefer. I know the real answer is neither, but that’s not the question… What would you choose?
Running Scene
USAs - the meet that typically selects the top 3 athletes to run at Worlds or the Olympics is happening in NYC this year in a little more than a week. While it’s a great change of pace to have it on the East Coast (it’s normally held at the University of Oregon), I’m not sure a competitive 5k or 10k in NYC in the summer is the right move either.
If I get the chance to go, I’m not even sure I would.
What I’m Working On
I’m currently working on two different apps (vibe coding. Yes, I have very few coding skills.) One is a training log that helps keep your plans, races, and goals all in one place. It’ll track your mileage and give you some pace calculator options.
The other is an app for our club team. Being the president means I have to keep track of a bunch of different spreadsheets, and I’m thinking that an app that organizes everything would be so much simpler.
Upcoming Events
Fall races are still a few months away, but training for them needs to happen now. If creating a training plan for yourself doesn’t appeal to you, let me handle that for you. I have space for only a few more runners, so you’d have to move fast.
Contact Me
If you’d like to reach out for coaching questions, you can reply to this email.
Thanks to everyone who continues to read my newsletter. I appreciate you all. I am excited to share my marathon journey with you, and I look forward to seeing you out on the roads!
Thanks for reading. Consider going paid. You can click the link below to get that started.
What’s even better than going paid? Starting a training plan with me.