Hi, I'm Vanessa McGovern also known as Coach V. For my first blog I thought I would tell you a bit about myself and what has led me to coaching. I'm a mom of three amazing kids, Michael, Nicola and Ciarán. I have a wonderful husband Mike who is from Ireland. I love running, playing sports, and being outdoors and exploring with my family. I also love cooking delicious healthy foods and I am a huge fan of Track and Field.
Several events have lead me to coaching, so I will have to start by telling you about my running journey. Growing up I played several sports including soccer, volleyball, and basketball. I started running in middle school during my club soccer season and little did I know that I would truly find my stride in running. I went on to compete in college at Lamar University and then to the University of Houston. After I graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Accounting, I began working as an accountant and stepped back from running. I had associated running with competing in college and thought that I didn't need to spend as much time running. After my husband and I got married, I began to miss running. My husband is also a runner, in fact we met on the Lamar University track team. I convinced him to sign up for the Houston Marathon with me. I knew we needed a big goal to train towards and get us back running consistently. So we began our couch to marathon training. I really enjoyed the marathon build. Challenging ourselves with a distance we had never done was exciting. We completed our first marathon but more importantly we had our running motivation back and realized the importance in having fitness goals. We moved from Houston to Chicago and over the next several years we stayed consistent with our running and began to add strength work. The consistency paid off and I began to run better than I did in college. This made me realize the power of tailoring training to the individual. All through college my teammates and I all did the same workout and there was not enough focus on strength work. Being able to identify the workouts that benefited me was a big eye opener. I began to read more books about running and strength training and seeking as much knowledge as possible. I also became a certified USATF Level 1 Coach.
As a coach I believe it is so important to continue learning, researching, and observing each individual athlete. The more I learn, the more questions I want to dive into and find the answers. This quest for running knowledge along with sharing what I have learned through all my experiences has led me to coaching.
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