Jay is joined by Run Free Coach Cody Moore and Run Free athlete Chris Jackson to hear from Chris all about how much having a Run Free Coach in Cody changed and improved every aspect of his training and performance for the better.
From Chris: "I started working with Cody in October of 2024. My main 2 goals I shared with him were to 1.) run a well executed marathon and 2.) break 2:50. I had run 3 marathons prior (3:12, 2:55, 3:01) and experienced a bonk in all 3."
Highlights:
- Training Overall - Throughout the training I had so many milestones that I've never experienced before. Running faster paces for longer periods of time. Several cool workouts where I would run fast for a portion and then recover but then run intervals or even faster miles towards the end of the workout. Those workouts gave me so much confidence in being able to still run fast when I'm tired. I probably have 5-6 workouts that I feel almost as proud of as if it were a race. That made the training super fun and rewarding. I also told Cody that I feel like I was a 3-speed bike before working with him and now I feel like a 18-speed. Not only like I have more gears but I have control and confidence over those gears. Week over week I appreciated that the workouts were never really the same - this was a big difference from my training plans in the past. Also, Cody's advice on nutrition on longer runs helped me get use to it early in the training cycle so I had no issues during my races.
- Chickamauga Battlefield Half Marathon - ran a PR in the of 1:19. The PR wasn't the goal but awesome to get it. We ran the race as a workout with a 3 mile warm up, 10 steady and then close out the last 5k hard. My previous half PR was a 1:21. This one gave me a lot of confidence because I knew I could go much faster if I were to race a half. Super fun!
- Whiskey Run Half Marathon - ran a 1:20 and placed 1st. Same thing with this run on treating it like a workout. We ran the first 10 at/near marathon goal pace and then the last 5k hard. The cool thing about this one - I ran the last 5k of this race in 17:24 and my current 5K PR is 17:04. I can't wait to try a 5k now!
- Wilmington Marathon (goal race) - ran a 2:44:34 and didn't bonk! I'm still processing how excited I am about this race. I had a lot of negative thoughts in my head about 3 days leading up to the race. I was worried that even though I've done all the work I'm still going to bonk/crash at some point because that is what I do in marathons. MAN, incorrect. I was literally able to race all 26.2 miles. We had a great plan of 3 miles warming up around 6:25 and then stick between 6:13 - 6:20until mile 20. The first half felt good and I was conserving energy a bit. Miles 13-20 felt way better than I expected and I was avg. closer to 6:15 at this point. In the final 10k I was starting to get real pumped but still respecting the fact that this is where I typically fall off. I ended up closing with 6:14, 6:11, 6:12, 6:05, 6:08 & 5:45. I think the think I was most excited about was feeling good the whole race and knowing there is definitely more time I could take off. A 2:39 feels in reach and I would have never said that before this experience.
