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Official page for Neely Spence Gracey's Get Running Coaching Services. In 2013, Neely started Get Running with just a few Facebook friends as athletes.

Through word of mouth, Get Running has grown each year. After Neely ran the Boston Marathon in 2016, the team went from 30 to 60 athletes. As the only member of the coaching staff, in 2018 Neely messaged everyone when she was on the way to the birthing center to deliver her first baby… and then checked emails and answered messages after he was born to make sure no one was left hanging with what t

hey needed for their workouts that week. She learned quickly that life with a kiddo is a lot more unpredictable and soon after, her college teammate, friend, and fellow elite runner Katie joined the coaching staff. With the extra (wo)man power, the team continued its growth while maintaining the same level of personal interaction, efficient and effective communication, and support. Neely and Katie worked together to help runners of all ages and abilities pursue their goals. From middle school track athletes to first time 5k runners to 3 Olympic Trials Marathon qualifiers, Get Running Coaching has been a part of over 400 runners successes! In 2021, Bridget (a long time Get Running athlete herself), joined the coaching staff to wear the many hats we all do of making this community a positive and uplifting experience for all our athletes. We, as a coaching team, are here for you. One thing that you may find very unique about us is that while your assigned coach specifically writes your training plan, we have a collaborative approach in the support we provide. We each have different strengths and when we work together, you get the most out of your training!

05/12/2024

If you've been running for a long time, you probably have an embarrassing bathroom emergency story. Let's try to avoid adding more of those stories to our list than necessary!

When marathon training, the foods you eat the day before and the day of your long run can significantly impact your performance and recovery. Here’s a list of foods you should avoid to ensure you feel your best during your long run:

1. Heavy, Greasy, or Fried Foods 🍔🍟
Ex: Fast food, deep-fried items, and heavy meat dishes.

2. High-Fiber Foods (Too Close to Run Time) 🌾🥦
Ex: Beans, broccoli, cabbage, whole grains, and high-fiber cereals (save these for after the run).

3. Spicy Foods 🌶️
Ex: Spicy curries, chili, hot sauce-heavy dishes.

4. Dairy Products 🧀🥛 (if you’re sensitive)
Ex: Milk, cheese, ice cream (though some runners are fine with small amounts).

5. High-Sugar Snacks or Desserts 🍰🍩
Ex: Candy, cookies, cakes, and sugary pastries.

6. Caffeine (Too Much) ☕
Ex: Multiple cups of coffee (one is fine!), energy drinks, or large quantities of caffeinated sodas.

7. Large Portions or Overeating 🍽️
Why to avoid: Eating large portions of food, especially rich or heavy meals, can leave you feeling overly full or sluggish. It can also slow down digestion, which might lead to cramping or discomfort.

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Every person is different, so it's good to experiment with meals the night before a long run and breakfasts the day of so that on race day, you have a plan that's tried and true!

What to Focus On:
- Carbohydrates: Focus on easily digestible carbs (like pasta, rice, oatmeal) the day before and a small carb-heavy breakfast (like a banana and toast) the morning of your long run.
- Lean Proteins: Choose easy-to-digest options like chicken, turkey, or tofu.
- Healthy Fats: Small amounts of healthy fats, such as those from avocados, nuts, and olive oil.
- Hydration: Make sure you’re well-hydrated the day before and on the morning of your run.

By avoiding these foods and focusing on simple, digestible, and carb-rich meals, you’ll set yourself up for a much better long-run experience.

03/12/2024

🏃‍♀️💥 California International Marathon Tips for a PR 💥🏃‍♂️

The CIM is one of the fastest marathons in the country, and with the right strategy, you can crush your personal best this weekend! Here are a few key tips to help you race smart and race strong:

1. Start Controlled: The downhill start is tempting, but resist the urge to go out too fast! Aim for even splits and save your legs for the later miles. 💪

2. Mind the Hills: While the course is mostly downhill, there are a few sneaky uphill sections (especially miles 13-15). Stay steady, keep your form, and don’t waste energy here. 🏔️

3. Fuel Early & Often: Start fueling early and aim for a gel or carb source every 30-45 minutes. Hydrate consistently throughout the race to avoid bonking in the later miles. 🥤🍊

4. Downhill Form: Shorten your stride and lean slightly forward (from the ankles) to harness gravity without overstriding. Quick, light steps will save your quads for the final stretch! ⛰️

5. Break It Down: Mentally break the race into smaller chunks. Focus on getting to mile 10, then 20, then the finish line. You’ve got this! 🔥

Stay strong, trust your training, and finish with purpose!

Let’s make this weekend one to remember. You’ve put in the work—now let it shine! 💥✨

02/12/2024

"Everything just clicked during this training cycle. I was more confident than I ever had been on the starting line and knew that I had the fitness and mental toughness to PR. Working with has enabled me to be the best version of myself both in training and on race day. I ran with so much joy and gratitude for all the growth of this build. I will never forget the feeling of crossing the finish line and realizing that I had just run the race I had been working towards and dreaming of for many months. Of course Bridget was the first person I texted to celebrate my PR. It’s been a long time coming, and I can’t wait to see what’s ahead."

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To the queen of the swifties, to the slayer of hills, to the one who trusts the magic of a good playlist on shuffle, to girl who shows up whether she feels like it or not, and and the one who has the most optimistic attitude about the good days and bad -- We are so proud of you, Emily!! ✨

28/11/2024

🐰 How to improve your SPEED ⚡

1. Build your weekly mileage
2. Add speedwork
3. Be consistent with strength training

Do these things consistently and you'll see improvement!

A few notes:
- Listen to your body with building mileage. Pro runners might build up to 100+ mile weeks, but keep in mind that they also nap as part of their job. If you don't have that luxury, you likely should peak lower than that.
2. Progress your speedwork. For real. Don't just jump from doing no speed into doing 8 miles at lactate threshold. Strides are underrated and very foundational.
3. Similar to speedwork, progress your strength training, if you've not done it before. Start with just adding 1 core workout a week. Then add 1-2 bodyweight workouts. Then progress to dumbells, barbells, etc.

We can help you with all of these things! DM or comment if you have questions about coaching!

27/11/2024

🥑🍌 Fueling Your Marathon Training: Nutrition Tips You Need to Know! 🍌🥑

What you eat before, during, and after your runs can make or break your performance—especially when training for a marathon or half marathon. Proper fueling will keep your energy high and help your body recover faster. And this is something you need to PRACTICE during your long runs so that you know what works for you come race day!

📋 Here’s Your Guide to Long Run Fueling:

Before the Run:
- Focus on easily digestible carbs (think: toast with peanut butter, oatmeal, or a banana) to fuel your muscles.
- Avoid fatty or high-protein meals that may upset your stomach during your run.

During the Run:
- For long runs over 90 minutes, refuel with easy-to-digest carbs (gels, chews, or sports drinks) every 30-45 minutes.
- Hydrate! Dehydration can impact your performance, so drink regularly during runs longer than 60 minutes, even when it's cold.

After the Run:
- Replenish glycogen stores with carbs (like sweet potatoes, rice, or fruit).
- Include protein (chicken, eggs, or a protein smoothie) to repair muscles and aid recovery.

💡 An easy run community favorite for pre-run is graham crackers and a favorite for post run is chocolate milk (or the extra protein Core Power chocolate milk drinks)

What’s your go-to fueling strategy for long runs?

26/11/2024

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Family First, Training Second (But Still IMPORTANT!) 🏃‍♀️

Training for a marathon or half marathon is no small feat—especially when you’ve got a busy family life to manage! But with a little planning and a lot of flexibility, it’s absolutely possible to make both work.

💡 Tips for Balancing Running and Family:

Plan your training in advance – Look at your week ahead and schedule your runs like any other important appointment. Early mornings or after the kids are in bed can be great times to fit in your mileage.

Get creative with your family time – If you’ve got kids, why not turn your run into a family outing? Take the stroller for a jog, or head to the park with a post-run picnic!

Communicate with your family – Let your loved ones know when you’ve got key workouts or long runs planned so you can all work together to make it happen.

🏅 Remember: Balance doesn’t mean perfection. Flexibility is key when you’re balancing running with life!

What’s your best time-saving hack for balancing family and marathon training?

25/11/2024

🛌 Rest Is Part of the Plan! 🛌

When you're juggling work, family, and training for a race, it’s easy to feel like every moment must be productive. But here’s the truth: rest days are just as important as your hardest training days. 🏃‍♀️💤

👉 Why? Rest allows your body to recover, rebuild, and become stronger. Without enough recovery, you risk burnout, injury, and hitting a plateau in your training.

✅ What to do on rest days?
- Take a walk to keep your body moving.
- Focus on mobility or stretching to keep your muscles flexible.
- Most importantly, listen to your body! (Maybe that means complete rest, no movement)

💡 Tip for Busy Runners: If you feel guilty about taking a break, remember that resting helps you train harder and smarter when you’re back on your feet. Your body needs time to recharge—don’t skip it!

21/11/2024

“I just wanted to have fun and reuse my Halloween costume (and defend my title from last year)!

I really don’t advise running full turkey, but I did win a frozen one that I donated to a local coffee shop who’s hosting a Thanksgiving meal for folks in need and I made a lot of people smile, so it was worth it!”

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We love this hilarious victory! Great job, Melissa!!

19/11/2024

Huge congrats for our own Moncef Attia on this hard-earned PR!!!!

Take a look at his progression over the years:

2015 - 3:47
2017 - 3:48
2018 - 3:40
2019 - 3:12 & 3:05
2020 - 2:55
2021 - 2:53 & 2:54 (First year with & )
2022 - 2:53, 2:48, & 2:54 (second 2 were ~2 weeks apart🤯 )
2023 - 2:47, 2:50, 2:50
2024 - 2:49 & 2:45

Since working with Get Running Coaching, Moncef also lowered his half marathon time from 1:24 to 1:18!

All we can say is WOW.

Moncef, you're such an inspiration. You show so much grit, determination, and devotion to the sport. And we're super proud of you!

07/11/2024

⚡Limited Stock⚡

Team Beanies! Just in time for winter running 🙌

https://getrunningcoaching.com/shop

29/10/2024

"This was my first race back postpartum and my first half-marathon in at least 5 years. The course had 1000 feet of elevation, with a particularly crazy hill at mile 6, so I was feeling nervous and decided that my goal would be to simply finish feeling strong and confident. As soon as I started running, the nerves dissipated and I felt great. Around mile 7, I decided I could definitely hang with the 1:30 pace group and so I went for it. I definitely think it helped to come back to running conservatively and thoughtfully; training with a coach enabled me to feel fit on a training schedule that was realistic for my hectic schedule! "

-

Sarah is a mama of 2 little girls who is still curious about her athletic potential AND WE LOVE THAT!!

Congrats on the PR, Sarah! Great job!!

24/10/2024

Train with our favorite Kiwi (.kiwi) for Boston 2025!! If you got into Boston and want to take your training to the next level with the help of a coach & training group, this would be the perfect fit for you!

Signups are now open!!

THE DETAILS
Start: December 2, 2024
Race Date: April 21, 2025
Fee: $250/mo

WHAT YOU GET
🦄20 week training program customized to you and to prepare you for your best day in Boston

🦄Monthly live team calls and private community on slack

🦄Boston-specific strength program in the Vector Strength app

🦄2 individual consults with our team sports nutritionist to support training and create a race day fueling plan

🦄Team meetup in Boston

🦄Communication with Rochelle via Final Surge app

🦄Team tank

If you're interested in the team, shoot us a DM or fill out our new athlete form on the "Join The Team" page of our website!

16/10/2024

"Years of small steps, building brick by brick, turned into a huge leap. Applying all the learning from carb loading, fueling whist racing (1 pre-race, and 8 during), strength training, and how to perform during my PMS. The little things do add up! This season is the first time I sign up with a coach. created a program that allowed me to build gradually, and strongly! Peeking at 50 miles, a first for me! I’m so grateful for this build! I went in this race not knowing what my time would me, but proud of where I was, knowing I was ready to race, to celebrate, and be gritty!"

- .runsherfast

Yes, you saw that correctly -- 47min PR for Deborah! Wow!!
Also, what a cute & joyful race photo!

14/10/2024

Pay more attention to the overall, long term trends than the individual data points. We will have some big leaps over the course of our running career, but we will also have some off days. That's natural and normal. Don't beat yourself up about it.

It can help to focus on what you CAN control -- showing up, eating & hydrating well, doing your strength work, communicating with your coach, writing down things that went well/didn't go well at a race, etc.

Keep pressing on. You're not finished yet.

26/09/2024

Your body carries stress from all facets of your life. If you're having a hard time at work or just went through a breakup, it will most likely affect your training. And you'll need to adjust.

It might be as simple as this:
You work as a physician and you take 1 24hr shift a week. Would it make sense to put your big workout of the week the day after that shift? No. Your body won't be ready to perform. It's tired from work and lack of sleep. It would make more sense to do a shorter recovery run that day.

Or let's say you're going through a major loss and grinding out 70 miles a week with big workouts just isn't helping with your grief. Maybe it would make sense to take an off season and just run easy mileage with whatever playlist you need to help you process your thoughts that day.

Stress is stress.

These are things that are valuable to talk to your coach about because it affects your training. Your coach can help you make adjustments along the way as your stress pie changes.

25/09/2024

And it's not just having this mindset on race day, it's also during training:

✨ More than your perceived effort
✨ More than you want to sleep in
✨ More than you want to stay out late at the bar with friends the night before a LR
✨ More than you despise the treadmill
✨ More than you want to do the whole heatless curls thing at nighttime that you know would just get ruined immediately by your morning run 😆

How bad do you want it? More than whatever obstacles and inconveniences stand in your way.

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*On the flipside, if you ask yourself the question "How bad do you want it?" and the answer is not "More," maybe it's a good time to take a step back and reevaluate your race schedule and/or goals. There are times in our lives when being a little unbalanced and heavy on the training side of our lives is fun and motivating and exciting. And there are times when it needs to be lower on the priority list.

24/09/2024

Stroller running can be a lot more fun than logging all of your miles on the gym treadmill (if that's your option). AND it gives your child an opportunity to become a part of your training. They'll get to witness the delayed gratification of your hard, consistent work paying off come race day!

Here are some ideas for fun, healthy stroller running:
1. Breastfeed/pump right before you run
2. Adjust the handlebar so that your back and shoulders are in a relaxed, neutral position
3. Alternate which hand is pushing the stroller so that you stay even + you are able to still use some arm swing and trunk rotation as part of your stride
4. Expect to run slower. Think effort, not pace.
5. Have fun! Play I-Spy, tell stories, listen to fun music, or ask them to sing you a song.

Bonus: fun snacks. always snacks.

Any other tips you'd like to share?

18/09/2024

What does a runner need to be successful?

First and most importantly, TO STAY HEALTHY. Rigorous training and big weekly mileage reports don't get you anywhere if you hurt yourself. Stay on top of aches and pains -- tell your coach and/or PT about them as they come up. And especially as your race approaches, wash your hands! Don't let a cold derail you.

Second, a solid base of easy mileage. Nothing fancy, just time on feet at a comfortable pace.

Third, a good training plan. There are a ton you can find online (Hal Higdon is a popular source) or you can hire a coach who will put one together that is designed specifically for you.

Fourth, a support system. This is your healthcare team, your partner who might take on extra kid duty so you can run for 3 hours on the weekend, your friends who will help you remember your "why" when you're in the grind of training, etc. It's so much easier (and more fun) to train with a solid support system.

Fifth, belief in your training. To some extent, your mind controls what you are capable of. If you don't believe your training has you properly prepared. If you don't believe you can hold onto your goal pace before you even start the race, you won't be able to do it. You have to ✨ BELIEVE✨

And sixth, you need to stay curious about your potential. Could you snag that Strava segment in your hometown? Could your new Boston qualifying time who's boss? Could you make time in your schedule to finish a marathon after having multiple kids? Could you finish an ultra? There are so many different things to be curious about. Curiosity keeps things interesting!

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🏃‍♀️💪 Busy Mom? Big Goals? We’ve Got You Covered! 💪🏃‍♀️ We get it—juggling family, work, and life can feel like a full-time job! But what if you could chase your dreams without sacrificing your role as a mom? Working 1-on-1 with a coach can be a game changer for busy women like YOU who want to crush their marathon or half marathon goals while balancing everything else life throws at you. Here’s how we help: ✨ Personalized training plans that fit YOUR schedule ✨ Expert support every step of the way ✨ A coach who really *gets it* Ready to take that first step toward your big race? Let’s make your dream race a reality! 🚀 Drop a comment below or DM us for more info! 🙌 #MarathonMom #HalfMarathonGoals #BusyMomRunner #WomenWhoRun #MomLife #MarathonCoaching

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You cheer on the sidelines ASSUMING your loved ones and your favorite pros will make it to the finish. Celebrate and encourage yourself ASSUMING you are going to make it to your goals too. ✨ Believe ✨

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