Jeff Chalmers - Athlete Spotlight

Jeff is in his late 40’s, a father of two tweens, and a successful business owner. 

He is also quite an accomplished marathon runner.  Those accomplishments include:

·        Three times Boston Marathon

·        Two times Chicago Marathon

·        New York Marathon

·        Jacksonville Marathon

·        Atlanta Marathon

·        Pikes Peak Marathon

·        Nashville Marathon

·        Savannah Marathon

·        Disney Marathon 

 

This year, one of Jeff’s goals was to PR at the Berlin Marathon.  He definitely did that!  He completed it in a time of 3:06 which is a 7:06 minute mile pace!   

Jeff has been training with me for two years at the studio roughly twice per week for strength and mobility training.  He likes to joke about my lack of running ability compared to his, but I make myself feel better by reminding him that I can still deadlift more than him. As with all of my clients, I consider Jeff a friend and we laugh and poke fun at each other quite a bit during our sessions.

Jeff was already very strong when he began training with me, so it’s really fun to program his sessions and introduce him to challenging and unfamiliar movement patterns and loads.  We work quite a bit on not only strength in various planes of motion but also explosive movements and change of direction which are all historically outside of his comfort zone. 

I asked Jeff if I could feature him as “athlete spotlight” over a year ago and…. he said NO! He’s not much for photos and social media, as evidenced by the few race pics I was able to get from him.  But I’ve been working on him ever since and he finally obliged me.  Read on to hear about his passion for running and his experience working with me as his trainer and strength coach.

Aside from being a runner, what is your athletic background?

I played soccer from the time I was 5 years old until my late 20’s and I also wrestled in high school.
 

What is it about running that you love?

My passion in life besides my kids is running.  Running allows me to stay feeling young. I hate to admit I’m getting older and running allows me to stay competitive. I feel I can still get faster even though I’m in my 40’s.  I love the freedom to just go when I want. It’s a great stress reliever, and of course it keeps me in shape.

How did you hear about Alex?

Some of my friends recommended Alex to me.

What made you initially contact Alex?

I was running a lot and I was constantly getting small but increasingly chronic injuries. My glutes especially were always bothering me because I was not strengthening them. I thought that if I could work on that and overall body strength it would help. 

When did you start training with her and how often do you train with her?

January of 2017. 1-2 times a week

What was going on with you physically and mentally at the time you contacted Alex and how was it affecting your running.

Physically as stated previously I was dealing with a few reoccurring small injuries and I was looking for something besides running that would help solve the problem.  Personally in late 2016 I went through a divorce and was seriously lacking motivation to do anything. Even the running was starting to seem a little ordinary and I just wasn’t happy. Life had changed and I was not dealing with it very well.  I really needed something else in my life besides running that could take my mind off the issues I was dealing with in my personal life and hopefully help get me back on track physically.

What were your expectations beginning a strength program?  

I was expecting to get pushed harder than I could push myself in the gym.  I was also hoping to decrease injuries and build up strength in the latter miles of a long run and that’s exactly what happened.

How do you think strength training has affected you physically and mentally in general?

Physically I’m stronger and mentally I know I’m prepared for anything that I decide to do when it comes to my running life. My lower body strength has increased substantially and it has improved my runs, especially when I’m training for a marathon. I am much stronger the longer the race goes.

What advice do you have to runners that aren’t in their 20’s or 30’s anymore?

Keep running!  Add the strength training portion into your work-out routine!  As you age It will help lengthen the amount of time you are able to run.

What exercises do you love that you do or have learned with Alex? What do you hate?

Anything core related I love and really enjoy med ball drills. The exercises I really dislike are the walking lunges, step-ups and Bulgarian split squats, and any glute-centered work really.  It’s a love/hate.  I love them because I know I need them and they make me a better athlete but I hate them in the moment. 

What if anything do you think makes training with Alex different from other trainers?

This was the first time I’ve ever used a personal trainer so I can’t really compare her to another trainer, but from this experience I can say that Alex does a great job of tailoring the workout to your specific need/sport and creatively comes up a with a workout routine that that will help build you up.

What would you say to another athlete considering adding a strength program to their training? I would absolutely consider adding a strength program to whatever you are doing just to get the variation in muscle use. I’ve learned the hard way that using the same muscle group exclusively over and over will eventually wear you physically down.

 

What’s next?

Boston Marathon is on the books again this April.  I plan to complete the “Six Marathon Majors” which are Boston, NYC, Chicago, Berlin, Tokyo, and London.  So I just have the last two to go to check that goal off the list.  I’m also considering an UltraMarathon (50K) and I’ve always said I would do an IronMan when I turned 50 so that’s around the corner and on the list.