I am thoroughly in love with running right now.
I just finished Day 1 of the Road Runners Club of America’s coaching certification course. I’ve been wanting to do this program since I heard about it last year, but it is REALLY hard to get into. Each course is limited to 35 participants to keep it relatively intimate, so they fill up ridiculously quickly. When I saw the NY course open, I was away from a computer and by the time I got to a computer 30 minutes later, it was full. I put my name on the waitlist and miraculously got in off the waitlist.
Two days of just learning about running? Yes please.
While this blog is mostly about my life and my experiences with fitness and training for races, I’ve wanted to be able to have some sort of credibility to talk about some aspect of health or fitness beyond what I read or experience, though I’m not looking for a total career change. I love running and get lots of questions from friends and from some readers, so I wanted to have a little authority. This coaching course is two nine-hour days, so it’s accessible but informative. I’ll also have to take a CPR certification and pass a 100-question test before I am officially certified.
Today we learned about principles of coaching, exercise physiology and principles of building a training program. Though much of the exercise physiology was brand-new to this journalism major, I was pleasantly surprised that I knew a lot more about the principles of building a training program than I thought I did, especially since I’d like to use this certification to do some work with new runners. I remember how exciting and overwhelming training for my first races a few years ago were, and I want to be able to help people.
Semi-gratuitous dog photo.
I got out of the course at 5, came home to walk my little pupernutter and headed back out for my own long run. After talking about running all day, I was more than ready to go out and do it.
I got ready…and the sky opened. I was about to take it to the treadmill (and tweeted that) and Victoria tweeted back that rainy runs were great. I’ve been a huge weenie lately about not running outside when the weather’s not ideal, and her push was what I needed to get outside.
For whatever reason, I’m still out of the habit of charging my Garmin regularly, so it was dead. I knew I’d probably get caught in the rain, so I didn’t want to bring my phone and decided to wear my heart rate monitor and just run by time. I only had 7 miles on the schedule (WOOOO cutback week), so I figured I’d just run for 70 minutes. Even if I was running 10 minute miles, I’d still get in at least 7 miles. I ran for 40, turned around and did 30 back so I could have a little time to walk and cool down on the way home.
With 70 minutes to think about the training course, not worry about pace and just look around at people, I had a lovely run.
Time to write out a sample training plan and get to sleep for Day 2!
If you could get any kind of health/fitness certification/degree, what would it be? I looked into getting my R.D. a few years ago and started the IIN program, but I’m happy I’m doing this running course. I <3 running. (I also want to get my yoga teacher certification one day, but that is both really expensive and takes forever. One day.)
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Oh. Hi, Stevie.
I'm taking the RRCA course in August! I'm pretty excited. I'm already a USATF coach and personal trainer, so I'm excited to add this to my credentials. You're right that those classes fill up quick. I hesitated to spend the $300 for half a day, then saw the class already half full and had to make a quick decision. Glad I did, so excited.
Enjoy the rest of your class!
I got my RRCA cert earlier this year and I really enjoyed the course. I recently made a training plan for a friend from my crossfit gym, and it was great to be able to use those principles and also be able to throw my own flair of crossfit as crosstraining into it. I'm getting my crossfit mobility certification tomorrow and hope to get a gymnastics one in the future. Now I just wish I had a desire to stick to my own training plans!!
Me too, and other people are too, so many people are buying running shoes nowadays..
Way to get out there in the rain. Who needs the hamster wheel?
I'd love to be able to teach spinning! Good luck on the course! :)
Good luck on Day 2! And way to get out there in the rain. I've found that I've been whiny about the weather lately and sometimes just need a push out the door.
I'm currently studying to get my personal training certificate after getting certified to teach Bodypump and loving it. I am a journalism major, too (stuck in newspapers right now), and hope to do some sort of career change - whether it's a combo of two or just fitness.
I can't wait to hear all about the running course! Did you know anyone else? Glad you enjoyed the run!
I did the RRCA course in Philly at the end of June at it was awesome. While a lot of the physiology stuff went over my head, I was pleasantly surprised by how much of the rest of the materials were familiar to me from my own training. Good luck with Day 2 and the test!
I'd love to get my yoga teaching certificate, too, but it's nowhere near affordable for me right now! Plus committing to giving up weekends for so long is a bit daunting! For now I'm looking into getting NASM's Weight Loss Specialist certificate. Good luck on your class! I am not a runner yet but would love to hear your tips for getting started without getting overwhelmed or discouraged!