April 15, 2021
### Guest Quote
###### Sara Manderscheid: [00:00:00]
I hired a run coach and that was a really smart decision on my end. I had a very, very busy schedule during the months of training. And if I didn't have her, it wouldn't have happened.
I just know wouldn't have, there's just not enough time in the day to structure my own training plan and then actually execute on it. And I wanted to make her proud. I just knew I had a level of accountability with her, right?. So what I'll say is that for anyone, you know, looking to run any sort of race or.
Have a running lifestyle. Teamwork makes the dream work like having the people in your life that will support you and love you and lift you high is absolutely needed. ### Episode Intro
###### Kevin Chang: [00:00:46]
Hello and welcome to the RaceMob podcast.
This is episode number 44.
I'm Kevin entrepreneur technology and fitness nerd, and I'm joined by the head coach of RaceMob and master motivator, the incomparable Bertrand Newson.
Sarah is a beacon of the running community. She has a bright, cheerful and warm personality that attracts runners from all around into her running groups. She has the coaching intellect from a decade of reading, training and networking with the top minds in our business. And she has that competitive edge that you know, is needed to hit PR times and inspire others to greatness.
Crazy enough. She decided to turn her hobby into a business at the beginning of the pandemic. So, how does she attract clients? What has she learned and what is she training for today? Well, you're just going to have to listen to find out. All of the links can be found online at RaceMob dot com slash podcast, including information on Sarah's upcoming runners retreat in Boulder, Colorado this July.
Links to our running group. If you're in the Denver Metro area and info on how you can hire Sarah as your personal coach and without further ado, here's our conversation.
### Start of the Interview [00:01:55]
All right. We are so happy to welcome to the RaceMob podcast Sara Manderscheid, a run Coach from Colorado, the founder of elevate your running. We just wanted to welcome you to the podcast. Hear your story, and get any helpful tips that we can, from you for our audience today. So welcome to the podcast today, Sara.
###### Sara Manderscheid: [00:02:16]
Uh, thank you, Kevin. Thank you, Coach. Be I'm so excited to be here.
### Sara's Origin Story
###### Kevin Chang: [00:02:22]
Yeah, absolutely. So Sara, walk us through kind of your origin story. How did you get into running?
###### Sara Manderscheid: [00:02:28]
Yeah, that's a great question. So, I have been a runner for about 15 years . And I worked in corporate America for about , 12 of those years, and really loved running outside of work, really loved connecting with the running community.
And then I went to a run camp in North Carolina a few years ago, Zap Run Camp, if you're familiar with the zap organization. And it just changed my entire thought process on running and the community that's around running and the camp was just so much fun and it brought joy to so many people. The campers are still connected today. I still talk to them. We see each other on social media where each other's biggest cheerleaders.
And it was just a really fun four days of just all things running with really great people. And after I went to that camp, I thought I want to create something like that. So I initially started a camp in Boulder, Colorado, a run camp in Boulder, Colorado, and then the pandemic kit.
So I transitioned over to getting certified in run coaching and creating run groups in the Denver and Boulder areas. For those people that are looking for that connection during the pandemic that don't have those resources, because a lot of the run groups were canceled last year, right? Anything that involved other people was canceled.
So I offered that to anyone that was interested in it. Um, knowing that we would still be social distancing, we'd still have our masks on, but it was just a good way to connect with other runners and it felt really good. And it was also something I needed to do. So in the process of. All of that came Elevate Your Running, and I'm just really excited to see what can happen in 2021.
### Joining a Run Camp
###### Kevin Chang: [00:04:17]
So incredible. How did you find out about this run camp in North Carolina? What made you want to sign up for it? Tell us a little bit about this.
###### Sara Manderscheid: [00:04:25]
So I was following a blogger for many, many, many years. Her name is Terry Adams and she, her handle's a foodie stays fit and she's a big runner. She was a dog mom at the time. She also worked in financial services marketing. So we lived a very similar life.
So I connected with her on Instagram. She was going to the camp and I decided to go as well. And that's how I found out about it. And it was. Such a great time. So the camp was four days, three nights. We had daily runs. We got to work with run coaches on our run form.
We got to do extra activities in like the Boone Blowing Rock area of North Carolina. We got to run through the mountains and the trees there, which is a little different from Colorado, still very, very pretty. And it was just a really great experience.
### Becoming a Certified Coach
###### Kevin Chang: [00:05:17]
Talk to us a little bit about getting certified to become a run coach. What was that process like?
###### Sara Manderscheid: [00:05:23]
So I have read so many books and magazines, like runner's world articles. I've always gravitated towards a lot of educational materials around Renee. So at the start of the pandemic last year, I decided to get officially certified.
So I went through Roadrunners of America to get certified. And that was a really great process. Everything was online and it was full days of training. We got to take an assessment test at the end to share that we, you know, are able to Coach.
And then I've been following a lot of run coaches online. I have run Coach that I've worked with for about a year now, and I'm also using him and leveraging him and all the things that he knows to create a better experience for my runners and to just learn from him.
And I think that's such a huge part of life. if we can all just take and learn and grow from the people surrounding us, we're all better humans because of that.
###### Bertrand Newson: [00:06:27]
Yeah, that's great. In a small world. Um, you know, we've worked with RRCA. Um, we actually had the president and executive director as well, podcast guests in the past as well.
I was certified through that organization in 2018. Was Randy your online instructor? Yes.
And we're laughing because he gets your attention. It is a, you know, definitely engaging in spirited and funny and colorful and welcome to the fraternity, you know, recognizing that you're following your passion and running and paying it forward to other people who are passionate about just moving forward.
So, congratulations.
### Running with a Run Coach
###### Kevin Chang: [00:07:09]
Thank you. I mean, you mentioned that you've been working with the run coach for a little while. , I think this is Tucker, right? That you're working with tiger. Gross. Yeah. . Talk to us a little bit about what you've learned from having a run Coach, the benefits of having a run coach and, and why you're now paying it forward
###### Sara Manderscheid: [00:07:25] .
I love working with a run coach because I get the opportunity to try new workouts that I wouldn't normally try. I think as humans, most of us like to stay in our safe zone. So if I'm writing my own plans, I'm going to probably write the plans that I want to run. And maybe not the runs that I should be running, right? So, you know, those mile repeats probably would never make a, an appearance on my schedule,
###### Kevin Chang: [00:07:55] Coach B's nodding right now.
###### Sara Manderscheid: [00:08:01]
I think it's really great to work with someone else at the end of the day. I'm also still an athlete. I love to race. I love to compete. I love to push my boundaries. And it's really nice to have someone to talk to about my own concerns and things that I'm feeling and wondering, and those pre-race jitters that we all get.
And just having someone there to ground me, calm me down. reassure me that, you know, I've put the hard work into training and everything will, everything will work out the way it's supposed to on race day. That's why I love working with a run coach. And I think if the people listening either haven't worked with coaches before, or thinking about working with coaches, there really are so many benefits.
They are first and foremost, your biggest cheerleader, or at least that's the approach I take. I want my clients to feel like I have their back and I got them and I will meet them where they're at and then lift them high. And. , help them reach their potential, the potential that they might not even see, but that I see.
So it's really great to be able to do that for them. I think it's also beneficial when you get into marathon training as a runner, if you haven't been through that experience before, it's very time consuming and to not have to think about what you're running for six days out of the week, or thinking about the extra workouts that you have or what kind of workouts you have is just one nice way to take something off your plate.
As a runner, you don't have to think about it. You can just wake up, look at your app. I use the final surge app as does my coach, and you can just see your daily runs, what you have on the schedule, get it done, save it to your garment, the garment uploads to final surge. And you have a great conversation with your coach about it, on how you felt and all the things that worked and didn't work.
So I love a Coach for that reason as well. It just simplifies things and yeah, it's just nice to have a cheerleader, someone that is going to lift you high and also push you to your potential.
###### Bertrand Newson: [00:10:05]
Great question. And thank you for that answer, Sara.
### Running a Coach Business during a Pandemic [00:10:07]
So running Coach, following a passion in the midst of a pandemic, how do you get a coaching business started for the people business running business, community business in the middle of a freaking pandemic.
How do we go about that? Because as much as we have athletes as part of our community, we also have coaches that are, you know, members of the RaceMob community as well. So this is a great opportunity for us to kind of share best practices, which I think is wonderful from coach to coach.
###### Sara Manderscheid: [00:10:33] .
Yeah, it's definitely not easy.
I'll say I was certified right at the beginning of the pandemic and. I really took some time to figure out how I could approach my run camps or run retreats. And I really wanted to get something off the ground in August of 2020. And unfortunately, that just didn't happen given the circumstances of everything.
But around July of last year is when I decided to start the red groups and these run groups are free run groups. And I thought, well, there really aren't any races. On the calendar at all, people still should run. People, need community and connection. So even though this isn't necessarily a way to make a living, it is certainly a way that I can give back.
And I'm also a firm believer that if you do the right thing and that you're a good person, that things will come back to you. , when it's your time. So I started the run group in July of last year, and I had two people on the first day, two people. And last week it's grown to, I think I had 16 people , which was really nice to see, because this is very grassroots and it just feels good that people are spreading the word and wanting to come back over and over again.
So I think first just giving back in a time when there isn't a whole lot to do, , I think is a really helpful thing. And there's still people out there too, when there aren't races on the calendar that still need and want to Coach. And I was one of them.
I took time off from using a run coach for several months. And what I found during the pandemic was that I wasn't getting out to run. And I was getting really frustrated when I did go out to run. And I felt like my purpose for running no longer existed. I didn't know what I was running for because I didn't have a race on the calendar.
Which is really strange because I never would have thought that I was that type of runner until there are no longer races on the calendar. And then you do get to reevaluate what type of partner you are.
So I hired a run coach and I think there are still people that need it in a pandemic without races. There's definitely races starting to present them, right? We've seen a lot of marathons starting to pop up the fall. There's quite a few actually, and that feels really good, but I would say, you know, best practices, Coach to Coach is just find those people who truly, truly love running, want to improve running.
It's a great time, time to help athletes work on their aerobic fitness and get the foundational work built. So when it is time to go into marathon trail, meaning that athletes are actually stronger for . The last year that we had, they're going to go into training, feeling stronger, healthier, and way more motivated than they were a year ago.
###### Bertrand Newson: [00:13:34]
Yeah, well said, especially when something is taken away from you. I mean, people had mean going into 2020. There were so many races that, um, either, you know, pushed dates went virtual staggered towards the fall or winter of 2020, and ultimately, uh, didn't present themselves. So there's this pent-up level of people wanting to get out and experience live events.
And we've been fortunate to experience a live event towards the end of February. I was in Atlanta and had a chance to see a live event go off, which was wonderful.
### How to Get in Touch with Runners and Potential Clients [00:14:03]
But going back to a running coach and cultivating a business, how are you connecting with potential clients? what vehicles are utilizing social media and establishing those run clubs and building a sense of community and connecting with individuals?
###### Sara Manderscheid: [00:14:20]
Yeah, that's a great question. I am definitely meeting a lot of great people through my run groups in Denver. that is a great way to meet new runners. Strava has been a really fun way to connect with runners as well. Finding runners in the area that I host my run groups, connecting with them, helping them sharing tips.
I am one of those coaches who does like to just give away information, good or bad, but I do at the end of the day, just love helping people. So, you know, sharing tips on their Strava, giving them the kudos, giving them all the love. Also Instagram has been a big way to make connections with other runners.
A lot of people on there have a lot of just profiles designed around running, right? So it's an easy way to be able to connect with other runners and for them to see what I'm all about. And for me to see what they're all about. And then another way has been, through Facebook groups. There's a lot of, trail running and just running groups through Facebook in the Denver Boulder area and connecting with them.
And those groups are really great because usually the runners will jump on there and just ask a simple question. Like Denver got to fetus, no on Sunday, we're still navigating through it. Know we've had a few sunny days, which is great, but two feet of snow is a lot of snow to melt. So a lot of runners are asking like, Hey, where's their pasture run.
And for me, just being able to answer that question. And just leave it at that feels so good. So I can help someone get their run in that day or try and organize group runs. I have a lot of people on those group pages that will ask about, Hey, I'm looking for someone to run with on Saturday or Sunday. Do you know of any other things going on in the other group, friends or other people that need or want to run.
And it's a great way to just give some value, add and say, Hey, I actually know of a few group friends that are just started up or Hey, why don't you join me? I'm going out for, you know, a 10 mile run. If that's what you're kind of looking for, let's meet up and connect and, and maybe make a friend out of it.
So definitely run groups and social media.
###### Bertrand Newson: [00:16:27]
Yeah. Great, great.
###### Kevin Chang: [00:16:29]
And I guess, I mean, there's so many coaches that would just be happy, like finding a couple of, athletes to coach and whatnot, but you really take the initiative. I mean, you've already built a website, you have a blog and not only are you doing coaching, but you had a summit recently where you invited a lot of people to a virtual or online summit, you're still working on your camps and other things.
### Other Activities and Events
So talk to us about the other things that you're also doing. And we want to hear the stories behind all of that.
###### Sara Manderscheid: [00:16:57]
Yeah. I put on a run summit, an online run summit last Saturday, and it was just the best day. So listeners might be thinking, what is an online run summit? What does that exactly mean? So we met over zoom over the course of about six hours.
And I brought in about seven different speakers and I was also a speaker to talk about all things running. So I spoke about running fundamentals and just some basic things that I think even experienced runners should hear again, because I think so often we just lace up our shoes and head out the door and there's so many other things that we should be doing, but we don't.
So just kind of going through some of those things I brought in Dr. Justin Ross, he is a clinical psychologist in Denver, and we talked about the mental strength and the mental importance of training right now in a pandemic. And what people can do to push through that and how they can practice it daily on Renee, on every run.
Because when it comes down to race day, if you're not mentally sharp and prepared to push through either the pain that you're not expecting to feel, or if something's on the core, start to go awry and. Things are just looking different than what you anticipated, like what you can do to kind of push through that and still run a successful race.
So that was really fun. I also brought in, uh, Jason Fitzgerald from the strength running podcast. I know Kevin, he was recently on as well. And Jason and I have been just in conversation over the last year through the pandemic. So it was just really great to have him come on and talk about all things, strength, training, and why runners need to do strength training and what that looks like.
It doesn't mean that you need to work out three times a week, an hour and a half in the gym. You know, you're throwing tires, you're S you're slotting, you know, some heavy weight, whatever that is. It's a subjective to everyone. You don't have to do that. It can be simple. It can be 10 minutes after your run and it could be squats, lunges, clamshells. It could just be simple as that just to work and strengthen your quads, your glutes, your hips, all the important pieces to a runner.
So he was really, really awesome. I brought in a coach from Boulder to talk through running form and what that looks like. And that was, I think, one of the highlights of the session, because everyone had a question about running form and what does this look like versus what it should look like?
And it was just a really, really fun experience to go through that, and find out that most people need tweaks to their running form. And I only know one person who has perfect running for, and that is my own red coat training with Tucker.
Um, I'm always jealous when he seems ready. so we can all have something to work for, um, work towards. For that, but I also brought in a nutritionist to talk through what it means to fuel as a runner, especially when you get into marathon training. I know the first marathon I ran, I didn't anticipate how hungry I was going to be when you're running 60, 70 weeks.
It was definitely a change in eating patterns and eating styles and how much I was eating. But then also like the dietician, Kelsey Beckman. She has a company called meteor nutrition and she's awesome. We talked about what it means to fuel those runs. Rerun poster on how important it is to fuel around your runs versus going out for a long, let's say 16 mile run, and then not refilling until later in the day.
I know sometimes after a long run runners don't have the appetite to eat, but it is still very important to at least get something into your body, to refuel and recover faster for your next run. So I brought her in and we also had Tucker gross, came in and talked about, how to run faster and tips to Boston qualify.
And then we ended the session with a yoga restorative class and that was led by Dr. Laura Johnson from Boulder. And it was just a really great way to wind down the day. So it was a really, really fun day.
My registrant's and the people that attended throughout the day one, they attended throughout the day, which was just really special all on its own because it was about a six hour day and they all asked really engaging questions.
And that just felt really good. I think not only for myself, for the speakers, for everyone else in attendance, everyone was engaged and excited to be there. so that felt really good. And. It was a really great day.
### Highlights from the Run Summit
###### Bertrand Newson: [00:21:50]
And we really appreciate you recapping that for us. Can we go back to some of those speakers and the topics and share some of the takeaways, um, maybe starting with, um, the mental approach to running some of the key takeaways that you were able to share with us?
###### Sara Manderscheid: [00:22:03]
Absolutely. Yeah. So, um, most people struggle with the mental strength during racing, right? It's when you go into a race and things, aren't working out, how do you push through that? Do most people just sort of, you know, maybe throw the towel in and say, I'm not going to push harder. This isn't working probably.
So we need to change that, right? So Dr. Justin Ross talked about practicing it on every single run and it only needs to be about five minutes. But just doing something to engage your mind on, if something were to go wrong during the run, how you would react, or I think sometimes too in training runs, there's plenty of times where things aren't working out and like how you handle that.
And another component to that is positive self-talk. So if something is happening that you're not expecting as a runner or things, aren't going your way to give yourself the positive self-talk that you've put the training in. "You're a strong runner, you got this", all the motivating words and repeating them over and over is probably the biggest takeaway.
I know for the longest time I had that attitude when I was racing of "you're so strong, Sara, you got this, you know, it's maybe 20 minutes til the end of the race". Like "just push, push, push, and you've got this", but there's definitely been times over the last year where I haven't had that. So I think it's also good to note that.
If someone's listening and they think, well, I'm pretty good with mental strength and mental toughness, like, I don't need that, but I say is, if you don't practice it, you're probably gonna lose it. So continue to practice it. Continue to talk positively about yourself, about your running, about your strength and how strong you are as a runner.
And then also using that within your runs throughout each training ground. So that's probably the biggest takeaway from him.
###### Kevin Chang: [00:24:00]
Thank you. That's super interesting. Because as you mentioned before, if you don't have a structured training plan or a Coach, then maybe you're not going to schedule in those workouts that really will push you mentally.
So having some of that and then actually practicing, needing the mental toughness, those mile repeats occasionally during runs or those things that you don't really like to do, but pushing yourself and pushing your body to get past that as really one of the only ways that you're going to be able to get PRs at those distances that you want them . So I love that conversation.
### Performance Tips [00:24:30]
One of the things that our RaceMob community has asked us repeatedly about is performance. So I am really curious about, , Tucker Gross's conversation about getting peak performance, Boston qualifying. I know that you're a Boston qualifier as well, , we'd love to get some takeaways from that conversation .
###### Sara Manderscheid: [00:24:47]
Yeah. So I think the first tip or the first thing to note is that if any runner out there decides that they want to run a marathon in three months and maybe they haven't run a marathon before most times qualifying for Boston within three months is out of range, right?
It does take years and years of building the foundational work and laying that groundwork to be able to qualify. I ran about 12 years of running 5Ks, 10Ks, half marathon, and then I decided to run a marathon and I actually did Boston qualify within my first marathon, but I feel like. Because of a few things.
One is that I was a long time runner at that point. And I had built up my running endurance and I got really, really great at running half marathons. So I nailed the half marathon and I thought, gosh, if I can run this, like, you know, just double my time, I can qualify for Boston. So that's kind of, one of the biggest tips is just knowing that it does take a lot of time, even for the people who say, "Oh, I qualified in one or two races".
They've probably have been long-time runners. That's number one. And number two, you need to be willing to put in the work. It does take a lot of time. It takes a lot of training, the volume, the training volumes, pretty high having the dedication to do the workouts and to be committed and to have that consistency, which is my biggest, I would say number one, golden rule when I work with any athlete is to just be consistent.
And, and that will definitely definitely help. And then I also think running with other runners who are definitely faster than you helps too. It helps. You as a runner, push yourself and just get stronger because of that.
### Sara's First Marathon Experience [00:26:38]
###### Kevin Chang: [00:26:38]
I'd love to dive into your first marathon. We usually ask people about their first marathon experience . I mean, qualifying for Boston your first time. A rare story that's for sure.
###### Sara Manderscheid: [00:26:49]
Yeah, it is. Yeah. Like I just said, I definitely nailed the half marathon, um, before I jumped into it. Um, sometimes I like to have everything. I just feel really good.
So I knew going into it I'd have a pretty good shot, but I also hired a run coach for that race as well. I ran the California international marathon in 2019.
###### Bertrand Newson: [00:27:10]
CIM.
###### Sara Manderscheid: [00:27:11]
And it's a great, great course.
So it's funny. I knew it was a fast course, and that was one of the reasons why I signed up for it because I knew going into marathon training that if I was going to put the time in and I was running the marathon, I wanted to qualify for Boston.
So I set myself up where I knew my half marathon time was a really good half marathon time. And then I hired a run coach. I hired Nell Rojas at the time she lives in Boulder and she's a pretty strong runner. I'm an elite runner. She's great. And hired her to help coach me with the training.
And then I chose the marathon. So I chose one of the fastest courses in America, but what I didn't realize is that it's not down hill, it's a net down hill.
###### Kevin Chang: [00:28:08]
Up and down and up and down. Huh?
###### Bertrand Newson: [00:28:09]
Rollers definitely, definitely some rollers.
###### Sara Manderscheid: [00:28:13]
Right?
###### Kevin Chang: [00:28:14]
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