Featured IAWR Member – Daphne Lovegrove

This week’s Featured Member is Daphne Lovegrove of North Bay, Ontario.  Daphne is 65 years old and has been running for 7 years.  She has run many half-marathons with a personal best of 2:08 in the 2009 Hamilton Road to Hope Marathon.  She has completed 6 marathons, qualifying for Boston by running 4:35:39 personal best in the 2010 Hamilton Road to Hope Marathon.

Daphne joined the IAWR and became a coaching client in July 2010, with the ambition of qualifying for Boston in November.  She implemented the changes to her training that her Personalized Coaching Program called for.  Most notably:

• Reducing her running frequency from 6 to 3 days per week.
• Replacing slower runs with a variety of speed workouts, designed to improve her ability to maintain her speed over longer distances.
• Following through on a strengthening program that targeted her injury-prone hips and upper legs.

Four months later, Daphne ran her Boston qualifying marathon in Hamilton, beating her personal best by a whopping 33 minutes!

“I found out that one program doesn’t fit all runners.  I was running 6 days a week and not improving.  My race times were stagnating. I did not think that I’d be able to get faster at my age. The Customized Training Program that you prepared for me along with your guidance and support helped me knock 33 minutes off my marathon time. I achieved my dream of qualifying for Boston ……….with over 10 minutes to spare! Thanks for your wisdom and BELIEVING in me.”