As we close out the year, we want to hear from our community about a new group coaching concept at MOTIVNY. Greg Laraia and I hosted two events with guest speakers to help coach our vibrant running community, and we want to continue featuring experts such as dietitians and physical therapists who specialize in performance to better serve our athletes.
As experienced coaches, we noticed most athletes need to revisit the basics. We are constantly asked by clients: How much food do I need to fuel my sport? What movement patterns are optimal for strength? How’s the mileage or “time on feet” in my run programming? How do I recover? As Greg Laraia and I had our first conversation about this, our idea was born.
GROUP COACHING AT MOTIVNY
We created the “In-Focus: A Guided Conversation with..” to create space for our coaches, clinicians and athletes to connect and address these basic questions. This roundtable discussion uses motivational interviewing in a group setting to help evoke more change and to better understand why things work the way they do. As we further develop this series, here is a quick reflection of the two events we had this year.
OUR FIRST GUEST PROFESSIONALS
Our inaugural event featured Mel Sulaver RD who tackled basic fueling tactics for long-distance running. The athletes in the room were marathoners- many of whom were preparing for the NYC Marathon this fall. As a group we addressed Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S), fueling around your menstrual cycle, why it’s important to increase your starchy carbs days before your long run, and how to diversify your food selection to fuel properly.
[pictured above: Mel Sulaver RD]
Our most recent event this year featured James Chung DPT and Tara Mardigan RD titled “In-Focus: Unpacking the Marathon” which provided closure after a busy marathon season. We discovered that the majority of the athletes in the room had stress fractures which shifted the conversation towards programming and nutrition. This also brought attention to runner identity- “Who am I when I’m not running?” which Coach Greg has written about here.
[pictured from left to right: Dr. James Chung DPT, and Tara Mardigan RD]
2025 ON THE HORIZON
We are crafting a series that will help you get ahead by planning ahead. We are compiling a list of topics that include common challenges many of our athletes face in the world of rehab and performance. This includes but is not limited to: bone health, mindset, breathwork, nutrition and race day preparation.
Our team is working hard to bring more people together in 2025 to help better serve the training needs that go beyond In-Focus. We want to hear from you to help us understand what you want to learn the most in a group setting. Drop a note in our email connect@motivny.com or jp@motivny.com to let us know what you want to focus on next year!
