This week we had our first Mighty Marmot Monday night team run.  A few of the current team members and some from the past joined to run a few miles before volunteering for the Achilles International of the Pikes Peak Region.

Achilles is an all inclusive fitness group working together to help promote a healthy active lifestyle for any age and ability. They meet every Monday night at 6:15 pm out front of the Colorado Running Company.

What I love about this group is everyone works together no matter what their ability is. As a volunteer you can run, walk, or bike with individuals so no one is ever left behind.

And for some reason, while I was running the second portion of my run on Monday night with some of my team mates and some of the Achilles runners, I was having an “off” night. I felt sluggish, and my legs and shins were starting to cramp. One of my fellow volunteers in the group, who is an incredible runner, super fast unlike myself, not only stayed back with me, but she gave me some great running tips.

As we were running some of her advice included, shaking out my arms to help relax my upper body and breathing, talking about my stride and telling me to picture it as fluid cycling movement, and then giving me tips about how to train and tackle the Pikes Peak Ascent race.

To some folks reading this, it might not seem like much, but these tips not only helped me make it the last few miles of our run, but kept me distracted from focusing on my tired legs.

No matter what I do whether it’s for work or for leisure. I enjoy getting advice and tips and incorporating into my training and career. These few tips, I plan on adding into my training to help me become a better runner. Because I feel getting advice and not using it is a waste of time. I’m not saying I will be a perfect runner the next day, but if I slowly start to incorporate the tips I get throughout the next few months, I am confident I will be a smarter and better runner by the end of this Triple Crown Series.

I enjoy the simple things in life, like receiving helpful tips from new running friends. So if anyone else has any more running tips on how to stretch, recover, train rest, or eat while running etc. Please feel free to leave a comment. All advice is welcome!