Race planning, Road Running
Lee Mamola
Heads Up Race Directors!

My racing experience dates back to the days of $5 entry fees and as an incentive for runners to sign-up organizers offered runners a free T-Shirt! Well, the shirts are mostly still here and thankfully they are a much-improved product too. In recent years some races recognize that many runners have drawers full of T-shirts and the shirts are no longer the incentive they initially were during the early years. Fast forward to current time and see some organizers offering a different incentive to runners. They offer runners to not receive the shirt and in turn pay a lower entry fee!

Heads Up Race Directors!
Race Report, Road Running
Lee Mamola
Kick Off 2024 - Super 5K

So come race morning I wake early and find that the last thing I really wanted to do was run a race, let alone a faster pace 5K race. It’s not unusual for me to have “race entry remorse” on race day anymore.

Kick Off 2024 - Super 5K
Road Running
Lee Mamola
What's In A PR?

I am going to go way out on a limb here and assume that you, like most runners, are not a world class runner and therefore will never come close to challenging a world, Olympic, national, regional, or similar record. In the world of running, runners instead celebrate their personal records or PRs. It does not matter how fast one ran a race, what matters is how fast the runner ran for a specific distance relative to that runner’s past performances. Since most runners compete in races of various distances, most runners will accumulate their own best finish time for each distance. Thus, the title PR for that distance.

What's In A PR?
Lee Mamola
The Brooksie Way Half Marathon #14, Race Report

This post is why the 14th Brooksie was important to me. This year’s race was more than about returning to the event after last year’s virtual race.

The Brooksie Way Half Marathon #14, Race Report
Marathon training, Half Marathon training, Running coach
Lee Mamola
Lose To Run

Typically you will hear people say they need to start running to lose weight. Well, leave it to this architect to think differently. I knew I needed to lose weight in order to run!

A bit of background here. My friends and running buds know that I have been running in some form or another for more than 50+ years, and over the years my weight as gone up and down, so why now? Well, the short version is that I had several non-running injuries and two different surgeries during the past four years. This along with the lack of any motivation to race is how I gained unwanted pounds. Just when I was starting to recover from most recent surgery along came Covid and the end of racing.

Lose To Run

Marathon

The Architecture of Coaching

An architect is one of the world's oldest professions yet also one of the least understood too. The title of Architect can be traced to ancient times with the word meaning "Master Builder". The ancient architects were responsible for not only the design of buildings and structures but they also constructed the entire project. They oversaw and orchestrated the entire process!  

In today's' world the role of the architect has substantially diminished since ancient times but the architect still maintains the responsibility to oversee and coordinate many other diverse disciplines involved with the design and construction of a building. Today's architect is less of an expert in any single disciple such as structure, lighting, energy, site design, and many more, but brings value to their client's by being able to truly orchestrate a wide diversity of specialty disciplines into a successful building for their client.

If you think about it, the same is true in the running world.  There are experts in a variety of specific topic areas such as; nutrition, strength training, injuries, shoes and gear, and so many more. What the runner is left with is a hit and miss approach on what works best for each different runner, and why something is best for that runner. 

Many runners will hire a running coach and very often the coach has a huge impact towards the runner achieving their goal. What makes The Running Architect's approach to running unique is the depth of experience and proven ability to synthesize the countless options each runner is faced with in training to enable the runner to be more efficient in their training and to reach their specific goal.

Very few people ever have the experience to work with an architect, thus most people lack an understanding of just what an architect does and how does an architect bring value to their clients. The same cannot be said of many other professions, especially in the areas of medicine, law, finance, etc. Through working with The Running Architect, the runner will gain insights to the architectural process while achieving "Success" as a runner. 

  

The information and materials contained within this website are copyrighted 2024 by The Running Architect LLC and cannot be reproduced, copied, borrowed, utilized in any manner without the permission of The Running Architect. Blog posts represents Coach Lee’s personal opinion and is not to be taken as direction or professional advice without consultation. All data collected is used solely for analytical or communications purposes. It is not sold or shared with any entity beyond The Running Architect LLC.