My first question to Vanessa was, can you prepare for a Marathon, while training and competing in Triathlon? Her immediate answer was a confident “hell yes”. If you have been into endurance sports for a long time, you may already know this, but as a middle-of-the-pack runner who got selected through a lottery to run his very first Chicago Marathon, this was a legitimate concern.
I first heard about 101 Training from a close friend who got into triathlons, and after training with 101, she suddenly started posting pictures taking the podium at local events and even qualifying for the Ironman 70.3 World Cup. That got my attention. I decided to try my hand at a local Sprint Triathlon race while in the early stages of marathon training. I made every rookie mistake in the book, but surprisingly ended up having the time of my life. I knew right then that it was time to focus on triathlon and take a closer look into what 101 was offering. I suspected that with the right coach, I could still fulfill my dream of running the Chicago Marathon while becoming a triathlete. Vanessa was absolutely the right coach.
As soon as I joined the 101 Training team, I immediately knew that I was making a great choice. I was expecting members of the team to be close friends, but I could never have imagined how much of a family this team really was. Everyone was extremely welcoming from the very beginning, making sure I felt encouraged and supported to reach my goals. Vanessa was there every step of the way. She designed a training plan that would allow me to tackle many triathlons I had circled on the calendar, while preparing for what she would appropriately call my “A-Race”, The Chicago Marathon. This was exactly what I was looking for but having such a diverse and positively minded group of people there to train with me was the ultimate icing on the cake.
I type this having crossed the finish line in Chicago just 7 days ago, so you could make the argument that I’m still experiencing the fabled “runner’s high”, and you would probably be right. I crossed that line feeling strong, I ran at a much faster pace than I ever thought possible just months before, but most importantly, I had a huge smile on my face. 101 Training was a huge part of this journey.
I am already looking ahead to my next goals (Ironman). 101 gave me the confidence to aim very high while discovering what I am capable off, and I cannot wait to see what the coach has in store to prepare for next year.
Rolf Romer