What a gorgeous day for running a race with old friends.

The last time I ran this race was at least 5 years ago. It was a tradition set by my former bosses at the law office where I used to work. That was before I really understood how to train my running effectively. At that time my pace was close to 10 minutes a mile for this course; today I ran it at a 7:40 pace..and that makes me very happy! I am older, I just turned 49 and yet I am faster than I was 5 years ago. Why? Training..training with PURPOSE, MOTIVATION AND DIRECTION. Things I learned as a bootcamper under my coach Eric LeClair. Now, I, as a trainer, aim to motivate my clients with these same ideas. I am proof that training with purpose, motivation and direction really does work.

Here are my stats from the REDONDO BEACH SUPERBOWL SUNDAY 10K 2/7/2010:

Hope Langevin #8265 Monrovia, CA Age: 49 Gender: F
Distance 10K
Clock Time 47:55.7
Chip Time 47:30.9
Gender Place 69 / 1751
Division Place 10 / 185
Age Grade 72.1%
Pace 7:40
All Place 460

What you will find in racing these faster and more popular courses is that the talent pool is huge! I faced a very tough group of runners in my division: 1st place lady was 39:59 and she was 47 years old! 2nd Place was 40:36 and 3rd was 41:45. With that kind of competition I am grateful to have achieved 10th place in Division and 69th woman out of 1,751 and 460th overall out of a total of 3,843 runners (male and female) ain't too shabby.

Playing with the big dawgs is a whole different ball game..but it was fun and exciting to try and hang in there.

Now a new chapter to my training is about to begin in March. Crossfit Endurance (CFE). I will be my own experiment. CFE is a very different way to train for endurance events; it breaks a lot of "rules" that the endurance community lives by. We'll see. I am very excited...

Community & Team

COMMUNITY

"com⋅mu⋅ni⋅ty  Pronunciation [kuh-myoo-ni-tee]

1.a social, religious, occupational, or other group sharing common characteristics or interests and perceived or perceiving itself as distinct in some respect from the larger society within which it exists (usually prec. by the): the business community; the community of scholars."

TEAM
1. a number of persons forming one of the sides in a game or contest: a football team.
2. a number of persons associated in some joint action: a team of advisers.
3. to gather or join in a team, a band, or a cooperative effort (usually fol. by up, together, etc.).

Synonyms:
10. combine, unite, ally, merge.

Tonight was track night for our group: Team Crossfit Elite Fitness Academy/Bootcamp. What I saw out there makes me feel a little better about humanity in general. I will explain.

Even though I was training with them, during my recovery time I was able to look at what was taking place on the track.

What I saw was a community of people who, while training as individuals, simultaneously encouraged and motivate one another. We had a very diverse field out there. From walker/joggers to some of our top runners. So what do I see? Our fastest cheering on our beginners, motivating them to finish. Many runners while at rest, watching other runners come in, yelling words of encouragement, "you got it", "nice work", "don't stop." The individuals of this community became a team..of their own volition.

We have some strong athletes in our fitness community. I may not know every one yet, but I know a lot of them. I'm around them enough to see what type of attitude they take towards each other and towards our beginners. I have only come across a few jerks and they are gone. Seriously, too many gifted athletes can be jerks. Conceited, self-centered, condescending and just plain rude. Those kind don't stay with us. Good. What I see is support, respect and an honest care and concern between our members. Sure, there is competition too, and for some more than others. It is a healthy motivating kind of competition, coupled with good sportsmanship.

Our community comes together to train and works together as a team, inspiring one another to not only get the work done, but to do it well. I've been part of this group for 7 years, almost since it's inception and it still moves me to see us in action. I am blessed to be part of it.

There is a Season..

…A time to keep silence, and
a time to speak...

The past 9 months have been a season for silence and reflection for me and now I am ready to speak, or in this case write again.

Why have I not blogged for so long? All of the usual reasons people usually give, I suppose. Changes in schedule, too many things taking up my time, but in the end, maybe it’s just because I have not had a lot of things that I wanted to blog about. I’ll keep this simple and just say that I’ve had a lot on my mind these past 9 months. Not necessilary bad stuff, just life. Things to sort out in both the personal and business arenas.

Frankly, my head has not been wrapped around my own training, but now a new year has begun and I have set some training goals for myself. I’ve had a physical issue going on. Not anything to be really alarmed about. It is a posterior chain tightness that I am finally getting some help with. Seems that tight muscles have caused a sort of hip alignment problem, or maybe the hip has been dysfunctional for so long it’s causing the muscles to operate in a dysfunctional manner. Who knows, either way I think I’ve had this for a very long time. It’s gotten to the point where my sciatic nerve is also being irritated. I am trying a combination of chiropractic and soft-tissue work to see if I can find some relief. I am able to train, but I just try not to over- do and sometimes I have to take an extra day off from running.

One area that I am very pleased with is the progress my lady bootcampers have made this past year. They have not only made gains in fitness, but in confidence. They have set and met race goals, including half marathons, mud run, several 5 and 10ks. One of them raced The Army 10 Miler in Washington D.C. All of this makes me very happy. As a coach there is nothing better than seeing clients get excited about their training because they have now found a purpose and direction for it. Aside from general fitness for life, which is the main reason my ladies are training, they are now seeing that they can have fun challenging themselves to try new things. They are realizing that they are far more capable than they initially thought. Now they want more...they want to get stronger, faster and fitter and they are putting in the effort to achieve these goals. They have organized themselves into two teams of five for the Camp Pendleton Mud Run this June. I am so very proud of them.

So what about my training? My last blog was about the Pasadena Marathon, and so my first blog of the year will begin with THE PASADENA MARATHON because I am giving it another go on FEBRUARY 21, 2010.

I have been training for the marathon with our Rouge racing team. I’ve done a decent job of keeping the training schedule and I am finally seeing some improvements in running times. I finished in 4:38 last year. I would love to pull that back to a 4:15. If I can shake this hip thing, I should be able to do it. I have the endurance. My 5K pace, my 400’s my 800s all tell me I should be able to pull a 4:15. Good hip health, relief from tightness is what I need to focus on if I am to achieve my goal finish time.

So...the silence has been broken, and a new year has begun, and I am happy for the new beginning.

Mountain Goat signing off for now.