Rich,
I wanted to take a moment to thank you for your coaching over these last 4 months or so.
I have tried to crack 3 hours in the marathon 7 times over the last 6 years, each time with the old fashioned high mileage plan and each time with poor results. Inevitably the mileage wore me down, left me injured and I never had a proper pacing plan for race day.
In November I found Crossfit and was introduced to our Crossfit Endurance program. You immediately changed my way of looking at training. Your workouts were short, they were precise, they were fast and they worked. My 5k time dropped by a minute, my 10k time by two. But in January I lined up at the Carlsbad Half Marathon and knocked 6 minutes off my time! Again, never running more than 14 miles in training and never having a run on the schedule that didn’t have purpose. Some of my best workouts were 200 meter repeats or one hour time trials. I never would have that those types of workouts could lead to success.
Meanwhile I was diligent about my Crossfit workouts 2-3 days per week and I not only got stronger, but faster and I even dropped weight.
So yesterday when I lined up at the start line of the LA Marathon I didn’t know what to expect but I knew I was well coached, well prepared and fit as can be. And thanks to your coaching, your support, my Crossfit strength and a really detailed pacing strategy, I was the last runner of the LA Marathon to cross the line in under 3 hours! 2:59:42 – 18 seconds has never felt so sweet.
Couldn’t have done it without you – thanks for everything!
Brian M
