COMFORT
EXPERTS

On this episode, Jay talks with one of his Run Free athletes, C.J. Gustafson all about his journey from boxer to runner and how Run Free has impacted his life. Great discussion we hope you enjoy! To get a free consultation and a Run Free coach yourself, visit www.runfreetraining.com and click the button.

Watch Jay flip a coin to decide if he gets to eat the healthier, better, and more filling option for lunch or the tasty, but not as satisfying nor healthy smoothie option. The suspense builds and he has to go with whichever one he lands on. The coin will decide his fate.

As part of our Training Day with Jay video, here is the clip on Jay's gym session. This came after his workout at the track and before lunch.

Our coaches work with everyone from the person who has never run in their life all the way up to olympic athletes and professional runners. We coach middle and high schoolers all the way up to senior citizens. It doesn't matter your experience or athletic ability, we want to coach you and we can help you. Visit www.runfreetraining.com for a free consultation and let's get you a coach!

Jay is joined by Run Free Coach Cody Moore and Run Free athlete Chris Jackson to hear from Chris all about how much having a Run Free Coach in Cody changed and improved every aspect of his training and performance for the better. From Chris: "I started working with Cody in October of 2024. My main 2 goals I shared with him were to 1.) run a well executed marathon and 2.) break 2:50. I had run 3 marathons prior (3:12, 2:55, 3:01) and experienced a bonk in all 3." Highlights: Training Overall - Throughout the training I had so many milestones that I've never experienced before. Running faster paces for longer periods of time. Several cool workouts where I would run fast for a portion and then recover but then run intervals or even faster miles towards the end of the workout. Those workouts gave me so much confidence in being able to still run fast when I'm tired. I probably have 5-6 workouts that I feel almost as proud of as if it were a race. That made the training super fun and rewarding. I also told Cody that I feel like I was a 3-speed bike before working with him and now I feel like a 18-speed. Not only like I have more gears but I have control and confidence over those gears. Week over week I appreciated that the workouts were never really the same - this was a big difference from my training plans in the past. Also, Cody's advice on nutrition on longer runs helped me get use to it early in the training cycle so I had no issues during my races. Chickamauga Battlefield Half Marathon - ran a PR in the of 1:19. The PR wasn't the goal but awesome to get it. We ran the race as a workout with a 3 mile warm up, 10 steady and then close out the last 5k hard. My previous half PR was a 1:21. This one gave me a lot of confidence because I knew I could go much faster if I were to race a half. Super fun! Whiskey Run Half Marathon - ran a 1:20 and placed 1st. Same thing with this run on treating it like a workout. We ran the first 10 at/near marathon goal pace and then the last 5k hard. The cool thing about this one - I ran the last 5k of this race in 17:24 and my current 5K PR is 17:04. I can't wait to try a 5k now! Wilmington Marathon (goal race) - ran a 2:44:34 and didn't bonk! I'm still processing how excited I am about this race. I had a lot of negative thoughts in my head about 3 days leading up to the race. I was worried that even though I've done all the work I'm still going to bonk/crash at some point because that is what I do in marathons. MAN, incorrect. I was literally able to race all 26.2 miles. We had a great plan of 3 miles warming up around 6:25 and then stick between 6:13 - 6:20until mile 20. The first half felt good and I was conserving energy a bit. Miles 13-20 felt way better than I expected and I was avg. closer to 6:15 at this point. In the final 10k I was starting to get real pumped but still respecting the fact that this is where I typically fall off. I ended up closing with 6:14, 6:11, 6:12, 6:05, 6:08 & 5:45. I think the think I was most excited about was feeling good the whole race and knowing there is definitely more time I could take off. A 2:39 feels in reach and I would have never said that before this experience.

Want to see what a full day of a coach and athlete looks like from meals to workouts to training and much more? Well, we have a treat as we spent the day with our co-founder, Jay Stephenson, to capture his workout, his tips, his weight lifting, his food, and more. And we had a lot of fun along the way.

Matt is here to talk about proper foot health and why that is so important for runners

Matt Silver joins us again to talk about breathing.

Matt talking about proper running form.

Jay talking about the importance of the internal game and mental aspect of running from Run Free Camp 2024.

For this episode of the Run Free Podcast, both Jo Butler and Jennifer Galvez join Jay to discuss how to eat proper and get quality nutrition leading up to running a marathon. This is just as important as running and weight lifting and other forms of training in order to get your best performance. Enjoy! To get a free consultation and learn how we can help you get to the next level and exceed your goals, please click the link on our website: www.runfreetraining.com.