Congrats to our client Soumyadeep on finishing his first marathon in 4:12! He writes,
“After 6 years of running half marathons, 10Ks, and 5Ks regularly and swearing for even longer that I would never run a marathon, I finally ran one. NYC was amazing, with all the color, the energy, and the crowd noise–making us feel like real sporting superheroes.
My main for my first marathon was to finish without getting injured and I am glad to report that I was able to do just that.
Congrats to our client Melanie who ran her first marathon at the Two Cities Marathon in California!
“I freaking did it! Yesterday I ran and completed my first marathon! I fulfilled a dream I had since I was 16 years old. 🥹 It was worth the long hours of training, the weight gain from carb loading, 😅😮💨 pain, and everything else.
I ran conservatively but now that I know what it’s like, I can’t wait to train for the next one and do it better and stronger. I don’t think I would have been as successful if it wasn’t for Marathon Training Academy and MTA Coach Erin Palos! Thank you so much for your support and guidance! My chip time was 5:33:12.
Also, I oftentimes get insecure about my body not looking like an “average” runner, but I am proud of this body! This body has grown and birthed three beautiful babies and pushed through hundreds of miles of running.” 🥲🫶. -Melanie O
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In this episode we speak with Academy member and coaching client, Kofo Obasanjo-Blackshire, about the ups and downs of training for a personal best in the marathon.
Kofo started running to lose baby weight after her second pregnancy. Through consistency and patience she has dropped her marathon time from 4:40 to 3:53.
Kofo Obasanjo-Blackshire was born in Lagos, Nigeria, and lives in the United Kingdom with her husband and two sons. She holds a PhD from King’s College London. Her father Olusegun Obasanjo was the president of Nigeria from 1999-2007. She has completed 16 marathons and trains with MTA Coach Nicole. Continue Reading →
Our client Luis lives and runs in the Azores -a chain of volcanic islands in the North Atlantic belonging to Portugal. He just finished the Triangle Adventure which has three days of running across three islands in the Azorean Triangle. 86 kilometers total. He writes,
“Final race was today with 34K. It was brutal but a wonderful experience. Quite frankly my awesome MTA Coach Henry prepared me for these 3 races and thanks to him I was able to run all the uphills and downhills and no pain.
I tried taking some pics so that you can see how beautiful this place is to run!!” See photos: Continue Reading →
Congrats to our client Joung Song on running an impressive PR at the Chicago Marathon! She writes,
“I am so happy to report my 11th marathon in Chicago with the time of 4:19:44 which is a 23 minute PR and more than one hour and 16 minutes faster than my first marathon in 2015 (5 hours 35 minutes)!
I am 57 and my goal was to break 4 hours and 30 minutes without any injury.
I worked with MTA Coach Erin S. and what can I say, it worked!! Continue Reading →
Thank you to our client Mareike from Germany for sharing this feedback on working with a MTA coach. We are impressed by the challenges she continues to set for herself. She writes,
“I started working with Coach Abby in January 2023 to make sure I had someone guide me professionally through all the races I planned to run that year. Especially since I did not want to injure myself by running too much.
Abby’s training plans have guided me through everything I had planned for myself and even further!
Not only did I not get injured, but my times improved. And I never felt like I was burning out.
In 2024 I was able to run five half marathons, one 34k race, two relays with about 30k distance to cover, one marathon and two ultramarathons (50k and 67k) all without any running related injuries.
And I even got an eleven minute PR in the half marathon and a twenty minute PR in the marathon out of it!!! Continue Reading →
Congrats to our client Evyn Whiteley on finishing her first marathon! She writes,
“I wanted to say a huge thank you to MTA and Coach Jena for helping me complete my first full marathon in Chicago this weekend.
I ran it with my Dad, Brian Whiteley who introduced me to MTA.
Running by his side, with his support was unmatched. This is the highlight of my year, and I will forever remember this weekend.
We completed the race in 5hr and 26 min. This was the hardest thing I have ever done, and I can’t wait to do it all over again!
I cannot thank you enough for pairing me with Coach Jena. She was encouraging, and helped me realize that I can run much faster than I think I can. I felt very prepared and supported by her and MTA.
And most importantly, I cannot thank my Dad enough. He’s my hero, and has instilled in me a love of running by pure example.” -Evyn Whiteley. Continue Reading →
Congrats to our client Kofo Obasanjo-Blackshire on finishing another marathon and earning a 12 minute PB!! She writes,
Had a whale of a time at the 50th Berlin Marathon 🇩🇪 on Sunday. It was pure magic!
The weather was glorious and the vibe was phenomenal. My second destination race, this anniversary marathon was nothing short of awesome. I ran strong, and despite collapsing at the finish😯😃, still scored a 12-minute PB (and was 24 minutes faster than my spring marathon in April!).
Aren’t we fortunate to be able to do what we love? Running is a gift that I hope to keep enjoying for years to come.
Shout out to MTA Coach Nicole for an incredible training plan, steadfast support and keeping me on track when I wobbled! The journey was neither smooth nor easy, there was despair and doubt along the way. Pleased with a 3:53 finish (my first official sub-4) and a strong race.
Congrats to our client David who finished his first marathon! He writes,
“With the help and support of MTA Coach Cindy I finished my 1st marathon on Sunday at the Long Beach Marathon.
I joined MTA at the beginning of the year running a number of half marathons and . . . somedays I felt like my run reports were more about what went wrong; It was too hot, or my Achilles hurt, or my stomach hurt or work was so stressful.
That said I appreciate Coach Cindy being able to turn my bad days into positive thoughts and focus on how we adjust and move forward.
I am so incredibly proud of myself and so very thankful for Coach Cindy and all of my friends and family who helped and supported me. For me it took a mountain of time and a village of support along the way. The feeling at the finish and the hugs from my family after I crossed made it all worth it.”
-David G.
We’d like to give a shoutout to our client Kristen Williamson. After having a baby in 2022, she decided to go after a Boston Qualifying time. She writes,
“After having my son in December 2022, I really wanted to try to qualify for the Boston Marathon. I didn’t know if it was realistic but I wanted to try.
I ran two marathons in the fall of 2023 with the hope of qualifying. I went in to both races unsure if I was in shape to qualify and was still breastfeeding while training for both. Neither went as planned and I was feeling a bit discouraged. Both races did prove that a BQ really could be within reach. Continue Reading →
Thanks to Michael Broberg for sharing his experience with MTA Coaching! He writes,
“Hello, I wanted to share that I’ve had a great experience with Coach Henry. He guided me through 2 successful training blocks!
I’m a new runner so the main reason I wanted to get a coach was to set up some good habits, avoid injury and learn how to train properly. I also wanted to learn about nutrition, warm ups etc.
I am very pleased and grateful Henry was able to provide all these fundamentals! Also realized a great thing about having a coach is that it gave me accountability and added motivation to show up for the workouts. Continue Reading →
Emily with her dad at the Colfax Marathon
“I have been listening to the MTA podcast since 2018 when I started training for my first marathon. Your voices have accompanied me on many of my training runs over the years.
Since 2018, I have run a handful of marathons with my fastest being a 3:42:42 on a downhill course (St. George) in 2019. Due to the large net downhill of that race, for the past few years I doubted whether I would be able to beat that time on a flat course.
This year, I decided to finally go for it. I followed your 3:40 training plan and the training went very smoothly. I ran the Colfax Marathon in Denver in May and finished in 3:39:16, over 3 minutes faster than my previous PR.
Thanks so much for your effective training plan! I haven’t done much speed work since high school and this plan made the speed workouts very easy to approach and understand. I also liked that the plan only included 4 days of running per week, because I think that helped me avoid feeling burnt out.
Also, thank you for all you do to help the running community! I hope you get to feel the positive impact you are making.” -Emily N.
