Coach Kip Changes

When I built the Coach Kiprunning website in 2016, I was still new to working with Wordpress and with complete control over web design.  Up to that point, I had only developed sites for my office, which were bound by the design and layout of the organization's web team.

When I started on the Coach Kiprunning site, my CSS skills were nonexistent, and my understanding of responsive design was meager.  Therefore, I worked with a prefabricated template, and I launched the site.

Since that time, I have also built 2-3 additional sites from the ground up, not using any prefabricated templates at all.  I've gotten better at CSS, and I am now thinking about mobile design first (in most cases).

Once I started thinking about mobile display, I grew disappointed with the way that the Coach Kiprunning site loaded on just about any device that wasn't a very large computer monitor.  However, hacking away at the template I was using very quickly revealed itself to be more labor-intensive than just starting over.

And so now, after much contemplation, I have decided to do that: start over.  Today marks the official beginning  of the Coach Kiprunning website redesign.  My goal is to finish this project by the end of the summer.  We shall see.

Please know that all of the site's pages are live.  Want to peruse Wilson Komen's coaching services?  They are online.  Want to consult the Kiprunning Route Report?  It still exists.  Want to read Coach Komen's bio?  It is still on his site.

The pages are just disjointed because I need to rebuild them.  

As the expression goes, please pardon our dust.  We're here for you while we rebuild.  Contact Coach Kiprunning if you need us.

Social Distancing Training Discounts

I am offering discounted training plans via TrainingPeaks for the month of April.  Runners who wish to purchase discounted plans should use the two codes Run2020 and usat2018 when completing their orders.

Regular exercise is an important form of stress release at all times, but particularly during the current moment.  Getting out for small spans of time, while practicing social distancing, can go a long way toward general rejuvenation, while also helping athletes maintain fitness and even training regimens.

I'll be happy to help with that.

If you would like a more personalized approach, contact me to inquire about online coaching services.  I'll be happy to help with those as well.

Stay healthy, stay active, and run steady.

Coach Wilson

Coach Kiprunning Shifts Online for COVID-19

Stay safe, and act responsibly during the COVID-19 pandemic.  Practice social distancing, and limit contact with large groups.

Major local running clubs have suspended in-person workouts, and Coach Kiprunning is doing the same.  If you have questions about your training, please contact me, and I will be happy to help in a virtual setting.

Safety and caution are paramount.  Please employ both of them in any exercise that you are conducting.

Sincerely,

Coach Wilson

SEO Status: Complete

The SEO upgrade to the Coach Kiprunning website is now complete. 

Over the next few weeks, we will be publicizing the enhanced webpages on our Twitter feeds, so definitely follow along, read, and click through.

Finally, there are some larger exciting developments on the horizon.  It looks like a potential reorganization of the Kiprunning Sports Club might be in the works.  Stay updated by reading this very blog.  We'll be sure to let you know what is happening.

Stay warm out there.

Coach Kiprunning 2.0 Nearly Complete

The major SEO update to the Coach Kiprunning website is nearly complete.  The work has been painstaking and long, but in the end, it should be worth it.  Our new SEO settings should result in better search rankings and, we hope, increased web traffic.  We will also be enhancing the site navigation via a fresh breadcrumb installation, and we will also ensure that the appropriate meta images are in place for all manner of social sharing.

This whole project came about due to some unexpected compatibility problems with a move to a new hosting platform.  Once the website was upgraded, it basically crashed (of course), and we had to reset all of the search engine optimization settings just to get it running again.  Once we did that, well, we had to start all over again.

And so here we are.  We're shooting to complete this project in about a week, which means that the new site will be fully functional just after the new year.  Once everything is in place, we will start sharing links to important parts of the site on my Twitter feed and on the official Coach Kiprunning Twitter feed.  Follow us there now and always!

In the meantime, enjoy the last few days of 2019.  I can't believe that we are on the verge of the four-year anniversary of this blog.

Brief Race Recap: Jingle All the Way 5K

It went okay.  Better than okay, by many measures.  This was my first race of any kind--my first workout, truly--in about 18 months.  And even though I would have liked to have run a little faster--I always want to run faster--that pacing was much better than I would have expected.

Things remain tentative, but I do feel like I am, in a manner of speaking, back.

In other Kiprunning news, Wilson Komen has spent a few weeks at his home in Kenya.  He has been chronicling the trip with gorgeous pictures on Instagram.  Check them out.

Coach Kiprunning at Jingle All the Way 5K

There will be more about this soon, but for now, the brief announcement: I will be representing Coach Kiprunning at this coming Sunday's Jingle All the Way 5K.  This will be my first race (of sorts) since my ankle surgery in November 2018.

I suppose a disclaimer is in order for any and all of my medical professionals who might be reading this post: I am not racing this race.  I've merely reached the point in my rehab where it is a good idea to get out and to be around other running enthusiasts.  I'm merely trying to see if I can hold down a pace that's about ten to twenty seconds faster on average than what I have been running during my training.

This is a low-stakes just-for-fun kind of thing, and I am looking forward to it.

More to come!