Corey Stokes

written by Corey L. Stokes
One of the biggest complaints that I have about my run coach (Nike Running Coach) is that the run schedule doesn’t typically fit my schedule.  On any given day something comes up that throws a wrench in my time table. For example, either my children want to be driven to school, someone miswrote an appointment time and showed up to my office early, or what happens most often, the gym closed early.  Regardless of the circumstances, sometimes, it is just really difficult to stick to coaches layout.

As I get older, I’ve noticed that I become more and more prone to injuries, but my wife usually advises me not to have back to back run days. I make an exception for Friday and Saturday. With the limited amount of time that I have to workout coaches long runs during the work week don’t always get done.  So in order to accommodate my schedule, here is what I to do.

During the week, I allocate three days to run. Normally Monday, Wednesday, and Friday (my job allows 45 minutes of the work day for exercise). Coach normally schedules those days as short run days of 2 to 3 miles. In order to keep the total mile per week, I’ll add an extra half mile or mile to warm up or cool down on my run days. This way by the end of the week, I still have the total training miles that were scheduled.

Cross training is my biggest area of concern. I have come to enjoy running and would say that that is my drug of choice.  But I know that continuously pounding the pavement will kill my knees.  So unless I am working on a challenge, or have had a really stressful day, I try to stick to my 4 days per week of running (I will talk about long run days next). Cross Training days are my day’s to build a different  muscle and give running muscles a rest.  Since I live and work so close to my home and a gym, lunch time makes a great time for me to get some cross training done. However, since I don’t really have the time to figure out what type of exercise I want to do, I normally follow a video. P90, P90X or, what has become my favorite total body site, FitnessBlender.com. I simply complete a 25-30 video (warm-up and cool down usually included) while lunch is preparing, combat shower, grab lunch and then back to work. Kelli and Daniel’s routines have me exhausted by the time they are over.  I do that and get 3-5 days of cross training and strength training instead of the one day per week that coach has planned.  Unfortunately, the coach doesn’t count those extra days.

For me, long run days are my usually hit and miss. The trick, I have found, is getting out of the bed!  Once you commit to getting up on the weekend getting out of the door for a run is easy.  The long run days are the most important of run days this is how you build on your distance! Since one of my goals is to run a half marathon this year, long run days are vital. Every other run builds up to this run. On this run, I don’t worry about speed, I focus on running form, breathing, and completing the distance.

Rest days, are simply days that coach has nothing prepared for me. But after the strain put on my body during the week, Sunday-rest days are all about stretching. I’ve been working with the Yoga Yak videos trying to build on my flexibility as well as some relaxation techniques, wich I must say have been working out pretty well.  I’m not one to brag but I can do a mean Shavasana😏!

Looking back, I must say that I’ve come a long way. However,  I won’t give all the credit to my current running coach.  In the beginning, I used runners world’s Smart Coach wich helped me move from someone who struggled to run a mile to now setting goals to finish races.  I found that setting goals, and challenging friends help keep me motivated. I just wish that coach and I can be on the same schedule.