Hi fans of 30 Something Mother Runner! I’m Samantha from Running and Cupcakes. I am pleased to be writing for you today while Jess is enjoying the Cape, time with her family, and her sister’s wedding.

I recently became a National Academy of Sports Medicine Personal Trainer and today I want to talk to you about the benefits of working with a personal trainer – especially for runners.

Honestly the #1 benefit that comes to my mind when I think “Why should people work with a personal trainer?” is ACCOUNTABILITY. You obviously don’t want to pay for something you’re not going to use. When you hire a personal trainer, you are being held accountable; you are responsible for showing up to your sessions and putting in the work.

However, I don’t really feel that is the best benefit. A personal trainer can assess your strengths and weaknesses and target the areas that need the most work – then work with you to improve your weaknesses, better your strengths, and help you achieve all of your goals.

Take me for example – before I started studying for the NASM exam, I ran, I did yoga, and I did occasional light weight workouts in the comfort of my home. When I started studying NASM materials, I said “I need to be in personal trainer shape if I’m going to train people!”

In January I started adding in upper body strength training twice a week, core work twice a week, and an hour long hot yoga class once a week – in addition to my runs. In no time I started getting faster, I started to build better endurance – I shaved 42 minutes off of my marathon PR (yet the half marathon still eludes me – I’m convinced that distance just doesn’t like me).

Another example – today I ran 4 miles at an 8:39 average pace, with my best mile being 8:16. It was hard, but it wasn’t all out hard, and I could’ve gone longer if I wanted to (I also ran 5 miles yesterday). Last year on this very day – I ran 3 miles at a 9:22 pace, and was shocked, excited, and pleased (after 4 days off of my legs).

I know I can attribute a lot of these improvements to the piles of miles I’ve run in the past year (including training for and running 3 marathons) – however, what it truly boils down to is strength. I didn’t start seeing true improvements in my speed and endurance until I started really strength training.

If you are a runner who feels “stuck” – perhaps your endurance isn’t improving, or your pace isn’t picking up, I think you should give a personal trainer a try. Like I said – I can assess your strengths and weaknesses and give you the workout plan necessary to get you on track, get you faster, stronger, with better endurance.

I have recently started my own business, RunCupcake Fitness. If you are interested in workout plans or private training sessions please contact me – runcupcake@gmail.com. I’m also offering online training programs, check out my Personal Training Services page!

Huge thanks to Jess for letting me take over her space for a day!