Coach Kiprunning Testimonial: Jed E.

Jed E. recently set a new PR in a 41-mile trail race. He also won the event. This is his testimonial about his experience training with Wilson Komen.

I wasn’t a runner until my late 30s, when I finished a 41-mile, one-day hiking challenge and set myself a goal to repeat it—and PR it—every year. Nine years later, I’m an ultrarunner who with Coach Wilson’s help just PR’d my main event for the sixth consecutive time.

A few months before my start this year, I knew I was in trouble. Just when I wanted to ramp up training, I was getting new pains in my legs. I decided to hire a coach for advice on my injuries, and to see how a professional training plan would differ from what I’d made up for myself in the past.

Coach Wilson admitted he had little experience coaching trail runners, and I got nervous when, weeks into training with him, my random aches turned to sharp shin splints and I had to cut back my training even more. He was great at recommending recovery techniques, and adjusting my training to keep me active and stable, but with four and then three weeks to go, I couldn’t shake the pain and started having doubts. In my training the year before, I’d done half a dozen training runs of 15-26 miles, but this year my longest run in the six weeks before my event was 11 miles, and my pace on short runs was slower as well.

I talked the situation over with Coach and we decided I should start but take it easy and be prepared to drop rather than injure myself worse. The day came, and it was 50 degrees, raining steadily, and the course was 41 miles of hills, mud and puddles. After the first 10 miles, I was right on pace and feeling good, and I never looked back. I finished first, 30 minutes faster than my last PR, and my legs had never felt better (after 41 miles, anyway).

It’s not just the tips on technique, products, training, and race plans that make Coach Wilson a great coach; it’s the mental side. I could never have done what I did this year without him—in fact I wouldn’t have tried. Now I’m looking forward to the next PR—and mixing it up with some shorter races too.

(See a complete list of trainee testimonials for Wilson Komen.)