Welcome to your first week of training! I hope you all have been able to access Training Peaks and create an account. If you haven’t done that yet and are wondering how to get your plan, you need the account first. Here’s the link to set one up. You don’t need the premium account, as that’s included in the program. It will keep trying to have you upgrade but just ignore the requests as you’ll be automatically upgraded when your trial ends.

As we get started this week, you may have some questions about the Training Peaks platform. The simple answer is don’t worry about the numbers and charts you see until you have a lot of data. Their metrics are based on the data the program has, so until you have at least a couple of months of data, the numbers won’t mean much. If you’re interested in it, though, Alison wrote a blog about it, linked below. We can also go over all of that in our first zoom call, which will be Monday, June 27th at 9am PDT. The Zoom info is at the bottom of this email, and we’ll also post it in Slack. If you can’t make it, don’t worry; we’ll record it, and if you have any questions just make sure to post them in Slack or email us prior to the meeting. Remember that any question you have is probably something that someone else wants to know too, so don’t be shy!

If you’re new to Cascade Endurance or training, take a bit of time to look at some of our training resources on our website. We have an exercise library (and YouTube channel) with instructional videos for strength exercises, as well as a blog with articles on nutrition, training, shoes, training peaks, and more. You can also learn more about our training philosophy, approach, and us here. If you have any ideas for things you want more information on, please let us know! We’re always looking for good topics and want to make sure we’re making training easier to understand. We’ve been coaching now for a long time and forget what information is the most useful. We’d also like to know more about you! Please use Slack to get to know each other and ask any questions (join here if you haven’t already). Slack is the best place for those kinds of questions and to get support from us as well as your fellow running buds. We’re virtual, but I’m always amazed at how small the world is, and you might find that you’re training with a neighbor!