Robin Walters shares her experience working with a running coach from Marathon Training Academy. We spoke with Robin after she ran a 3:37:18 marathon and qualified for Boston with a 13 minute cushion. Listen to her inspiring podcast interview here.
Archive | Coaching
1st in Age Group at Trail Marathon
Congrats to our coaching client Luis who finished the Ultra Blue Island Marathon in Portugal and won his age group! He writes,
“Completed my trail marathon race with a time of 5:53:48. The race was cut by 6Ks due to high winds at the original arrival location because it is sandy and volcanic ashes; the winds could cause issues to runners.
If I had to continue to 42k, since it was 6K all downhill, based on my last lap of 6:21, I would have had 6:28ish, meaning MTA Coach Henry helped me shave off one hour from last year’s time.
I came in 37th overall out of 208 (42K-runners & young ones too) and 1st out of 7 in my M60 age group!
I’m also fired up because this route was actually harder than last year’s as they made some changes to within the first 20Ks pretty much uphill: we had “1K” of going up stairs (never seen this before) and 2Ks were actually steeper stairs and muddy (it poured the night before) and it felt like dancing tango: one step forward two backwards. Lots of fun! 😉” Continue Reading →
PR at the London Marathon
Congrats to our coaching client Alicia who earned a 5 minute PR at the London Marathon! She writes,
“The London Marathon was simply amazing! The crowd support is out of this world. There are no words to properly describe the joy you have when crossing over Tower Bridge!
I finished with a time of 3:52:56 which is a 5 min PR and what I am calling my B and a half goal 🤣 I couldn’t be happier with this finish! Thanks Coach Abby for getting me to another start line and helping me to continue to chase my goals!”
Mother Daughter Marathon Magic
Congrats to Sarah who earned her BQ running 4:16 at the Eugene Marathon! Her daughter Emily paced her to a strong finish. Both Sarah and Emily are coached by MTA Coach Abby. Emily writes,
“Huge shoutout to Coach Abby who helped my mom and I train for today’s Eugene marathon! My mom is 62 and needed a 4:20 to BQ and we finished in in 4:16:31!!!
We are incredibly grateful for the MTA community. We wouldn’t have been able to do this without everyone!!”
BQ with the help of MTA Coaching
Congrats to our client Robin Walters who earned a BQ with a 16 minute buffer at the Revel Mt. Charleston Marathon!! She writes,
“I can’t even begin to express my thanks to the GOAT Coach Athena and the entire Marathon Training Academy fam!!
The podcasts, the training, all the resources have taken me from my first marathon in 2020 at 4:19:01 to my fifth today at 3:34:20!!
The course was killer on the legs and the last few miles were brutal but the solid training enabled me to push through to the end. What an amazing thing to be getting faster as I’m getting older! 🙌🏻 Thanks MTA!!”
Mission Accomplished! First Marathon
Congrats to our client Meg who ran her first marathon in 4:10:21!! She writes,
“I’m excited to say that I complete my first marathon!
After 18 weeks of training and with the help of Coach Kris i went into the LA marathon weekend feeling confident and excited to see what i was capable of. I know people say marathons are hard. But y’all…. This was hard! Continue Reading →
Half Marathon PR Through Coaching
Congrats to our coaching client Dave who PR in the half marathon on his way to running his first full marathon this year. He writes,
“I ran some in high school and then stopped. I’m now 51 years old and started hiking again after having a mini stroke in 2021 then on a hike in January of 2022 I broke my ankle.
Sitting in bed not able to walk I mentally started telling myself I wanted to walk and run again and to try and run a marathon. Later that year in October I ran a half marathon in Long beach California with a time of 2:56.
In 2023 I started to run a little more and trained for a 15 mile run in September finishing that with 2:50 time (or 11:21 pace) the half PR I had for this 15 mile race was 2:28.
In December I started with Coach Cindy with my eye on the Long beach Marathon in October of this year. One of the races I had working up to a full marathon was Oakland Half.
Cindy had a great plan to get here and the goal time for the half this weekend was 2:19 which would have been significantly below by PR already. And I finished yesterday’s half marathon with a time of 2:11:34.
The course had some hills that slowed me down some but overall I am very pleased with how I ran and very pleased with the race and the coaching I got along the way from Coach Cindy.” -Dave G.
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First Marathon and Hungry for More
Congrats to our coaching client Tarah on successfully completing her first marathon! This is what we love to hear. She writes,
“I reached out to MTA to find a coach that could meet me where I was at and push me a little too – and I found that in coach Athena.
I was coming off a hip injury and lots of physical therapy but had a goal to run my first marathon this year in Maui.
Athena provided me with structure and accountability. I found this to be enormously helpful because I tend to push myself too hard and then *big surprise* get injured! Continue Reading →
It was an amazing day!
Congrats to our coaching client Todd on finishing the Catalina Island Trail Marathon! He writes,
“This is the fastest time I have had at this race in 17 years!!!! And this is the only marathon I have ever run with no cramping!
I think it is totally due to your coaching and especially your advice about fuel and hydration. I would have never believed that hydration was the source of my cramping issue but now I am a believer.
The other interesting thing is that my mile times for the first 9 miles were slower this race than my previous two here but then, from mile 10 on, nearly all of my mile times are faster this time than my previous two races here. Starting slower really worked for me.
It was an amazing day! I felt really good afterwards and now, a day later, I still feel great. Just a little stiff. But no pain anywhere. My plan now is to let my body rest and heal. I don’t plan on doing any long races until September when I plan on running the Air Force Marathon again and I think I have a pretty good shot at a PR there. Thank you so much Coach Carri!”
Get prepared, run with confidence!
Thanks to Berenise for sharing her experience with our coaching services! She writes,
My husband surprised me by gifting me 3 months of MTA coaching for Christmas. It came at a perfect time as I was getting ready to run my 8th half marathon.
I was assigned to Coach Lynn, who has an incredible running history and she’s also a nutritionist – she’s impressive! I didn’t know what to expect but coach Lynn quickly helped me identify key goals and I was amazed by all that I learned. Continue Reading →
6 Minute Half Marathon PR
Congratulations to Kyle D. who ran a perfectly paced 6 minute half PR at the Disney Princess Half in the middle of his marathon training block!
His coach writes, “I’ve had the pleasure of coaching Kyle since October, in that time he’s made great strides in his speed and endurance, boosting his VDOT score several points.
He’s also one of the most disciplined and consistent runners I’ve ever coached (there have been thousands at this point so that is really saying something) Excited to see what lies ahead, he has the Cleveland Marathon up next. Way to go Kyle!” –Coach Kris
29 Minute PR in the Marathon
Congrats to our coaching client Gareth on running a 29 minute PR, he writes,
“Mesa Marathon in the books. My #3 Marathon and a PR by 29mins!! I couldn’t have nailed this one without an awesome training block under the guidance of Coach Antonio. I really enjoyed the process and mixture of sessions throughout the build up – I leant on the feeling of those tough ones when the race got heavy at Mile 21 yesterday.
Weather wasn’t superb – however the atmosphere and location were spot on! Through the rain and puddles – I kept to the plan we’d discussed and I knew at halfway I was rolling ok. Squally showers kept the temperature low and the feet drenched.
The quads were banged up from the early fast downhill sections, and at Mile 23 needed to dig real deep . . . found something in the tank and kicked it home with a strong last 3 miles to run 3.30.34.
This is my first race with a coach formulating a specific and guided plan and can absolutely testify to its value! Much thanks Coach Antonio and bring on the next PR chase!”
