Leveling Up in the Coaching Game – RRCA Level II Coaching Certification

Leveling Up in the Coaching Game – RRCA Level II Coaching Certification

by | Apr 19, 2019 | Featured, Trails of Thought

I am proud to say that I am now officially an RRCA Level II Certified Adult Distance Running Coach and RRCA Level II Certified Youth Coach! For the past year I have been working to complete the course work to obtain those distinctions and have learned a lot through the RRCA’s coaching education program.

“The new curriculum outlined for the RRCA Level II Coaching Certification enables Level I coaches to become officially designated as RRCA Level II Certified Coaches. In contrast to the generalist nature of the current Level I Course, Level II will provide a more sophisticated understanding of the scientific, psychological, competitive, and managerial aspects of community-based running and working with individual clients.” — RRCA Website

The Level II certification requires a two-day in person session with 8 hours per day and an exam at the conclusion. Upon passing the exam, there are a minimum of 15 online modules that must be completed and passed – each has an exam at the end – within a two year period after the in-person qualification is met.

I took the in-person training in April of 2018 at the RRCA National Convention in Washington, DC. The convention was a lot of fun and I definitely learned a lot in those days full of classroom activities. My business partner in Runner In Training, Becky, wrote up a great recap of the Convention. Read it here.

The 15+ modules I completed included:

Applied Physiology for Coaches
Anatomy for Running Coaches
Injury Prevention and Recovery
Strength Training for Runners
Yoga for Runners
Coaching Running Form
Coaching Using the Galloway Method
Coaching for Trail Running
Coaching Youth Runners (K-6)
Coaching Youth for Performance (7-12 grade)
Coaching the Sub-Elite Athlete
Coaching for Ultra Runners
Overview of Sports Nutrition Trends
Disordered Eating and Addictive Behaviors
Ethics & Risk Management

I also completed the SafeSport training that, combined with the two youth coaching modules, earned me the RRCA Level II Youth Coach certification.

It was a lot of time, effort and money to complete the training, but I know with what I learned, I can be the best running coach possible.

No Ninja For Me

No Ninja For Me

by | Mar 31, 2019 | Featured, Trails of Thought

Remember that time I said “After Boston, what’s next? American Ninja Warrior?” If not, here you go:

“It all started as a joke. Connor and I were watching American Ninja Warrior and I told him I wanted to tackle the obstacles and be on the show. He of course believed me. He also believes that I will someday be the quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles. Aren’t kids great? He’ll figure out I am full of crap one of these days. READ MORE”

Since then I have done Boston several more times, tackled and conquered a 100 miler … line ’em up, I’ll knock them down. I got a little taste when I did a Spartan race with my wife not long after the 100 miler. I realized monkey bars, rings, and ropes were tough. But it was muddy and slick. Surely that was why I struggled. It couldn’t be getting old or having no upper body strength. Nah, I’m a hundred miler. I can do anything.

Fast forward. Cole has started taking Ninja classes at a local gymnastics facility – East Coast Gymnastics. He has great instructors and has enjoyed working his way through the obstacles. We even had his birthday party there and I was able to run up their warped wall and grab the bar (not the top one, but still …) on the first try. 

This past weekend we went back to Garrett County, Maryland to visit my mom and show Cole some of the sites up there. New to Deep Creek Lake is a Ninja course they installed in the Deep Creek Marina building. Perfect! Off we went to swing and jump and conquer that wall. We signed in and went to work on the obstacles. Cole and Connor breezed through. There are 4 lanes, each a different difficulty. I went to #3. There were some hanging challenges, some grip strength and some balance. I struggled but got to the end. Lined up at the warped wall and dug my heels in to race up it. Boom! I take off, dig one foot into the wall, the other, leap upward to the top and … miss. Down I drop and catch the bottom curve of the wall. Snap! My ankle gives way and I roll across the floor. Of course I spring to my feet like I meant to do it, but I knew something was not right in that ankle. 

I walked around a bit, feeling kind of nauseous and nervous. That stupid wall. Once I got the stars out of my eyes, I did as any smart dad would do. Rack it up as a loss and walk away.

WRONG!

Back to the wall I went. I made it this time. Yeah! In your face Wall! Evened the score.

Warped Wall 1 / Dad 1.

But as I sit here typing this, I have not run in a week and have been icing my ankle daily and wearing a compression sleeve on my ankle. I even had it x-rayed and fortunately it is just a bad sprain. No breaks.

So I think the wall got the best of me.

This time.

My days of dreaming of gracing the TV screen on American Ninja Warrior are over. For now. I will have to live vicariously through Cole. That little bugger is getting better and better at his Ninja skills!

The New Goodr Bike Sunglasses – Product Review

The New Goodr Bike Sunglasses – Product Review

by | Mar 13, 2019 | Featured, Gear, Running Product Reviews

I have a ridiculously huge collection of Goodr brand sunglasses. I can’t help myself. They are cheap ($25) and have SO MANY COLORS! And I am an Ambassador, so I get some perks here and there.

When the new Super Fly bike style glasses were introduced, I thought, “I don’t bike. And that retro style would look goofy on me.” But my wife bikes, so I thought, what the heck, I might as well get them and if I hate them, she can have them. We “share” all of my … er … our … Goodr glasses anyway. 

A few days later, a package from Carl the Flamingo showed up. I hastily opened the box and tried on the new shades. I didn’t hate them! In fact, they look good! I like them a lot. Jen wanted to try them on, since she is the biker. “I think they are too big for my face”. “Oh yes, much too big,” I reassured her as I stashed them next to the door to put/leave in my truck. 

These new Super Flys are lightweight and comfortable. Even lighter feeling than regular Goodrs. I didn’t weigh them, or look up any info to prove it, since I am lazy, so take it with a grain of salt. 

If you were on the fence about the new style, give them a shot. I am happily surprised and now need to get all of the new colors in this style.

A New Goal For Lucas – Helping to Keep Memories Alive

A New Goal For Lucas – Helping to Keep Memories Alive

by | Sep 18, 2018 | Featured, For Lucas

As most of you know, I donate $1 for each mile I run to the University of Virginia Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. I started doing this about 7 years ago as a way to help other families that are going through what my wife, Jen, and I went through when we lost Lucas shortly after he was born.

We set a goal of $50,000 and hit that number in May of 2018! Thank you to all who helped us get there. We can’t express our gratitude enough to each of you.

Once we hit the goal, it was like, “So what’s next?” Jen and I thought about what to focus on to help more families. In the big scheme of things, our $50,000 that we raised is kind of a little drop in a big bucket. We wanted to keep helping the UVA NICU, so we met with their fundraising director. Together, we came up with the idea to focus on a more specific need at the hospital.

Our new goal is to raise $30,000 over the next three years for the benefit of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit’s Bereavement Program. The Bereavement Program will use these funds to help emotionally console families with items such as hand and foot molds, memory boxes, offsetting funeral costs, and photography.

Personally, I think the moment that we packed everything we had of Lucas’ up (locks of hair, hospital bracelet, photos of us holding him after he passed) into a small heart shaped box to take home, and that he was not coming with us, was the hardest moment of my entire life. It became real. And that little box means more to me than anyone can understand.

We want families to have memories to take home, even if they are not taking home their child that they dreamed and prayed for. And with this program, the funds are going to be more specifically directed.

Once again, from both Jen and myself, thank you to everyone that has contributed over the years. Future donations will go to families who just need something to hold onto when they are hurting in their hearts.

http://www.forlucas.com