Kim Sheffield

The RunDown
Kim Sheffield, Age 43, Married, no children.
Lives part time in Woodstock, Vermont and
part time in Sarasota, Florida.

I'm a high school track and cross country coach. I coach cross country girls and boys up in Lebanon NH in the fall, and distance track at Sarasota High School in the spring. 

I've a Masters in Early Childhood Education and taught Kindergarten, 1st and 3rd grade for eight years.

I've been running for 28 years.
Masters PR's: Mile - 5:04, 800M - 2:20.

Photo courtesy of Prettysporty

Why Running
Well, it started out as staying fit for my other high school sports and I also ran track in high school. I didn't run in college only for fitness and to clear my mind. After college, I began running races (half and full marathons).

I moved overseas with my husband, where for 10 years I found running groups wherever we lived (Germany, Singapore, England, and Brussels). We'd run for hours and hours. In Germany we'd run 22-23 miles on mountain trails, never passing the same trail twice. Going through Roman ruins. In England, we ran through King Henry VIII 's hunting park and Richmond Park. Beautiful. The funny thing about these running groups, they all enjoyed their beer afterwards.

Then my husband and I moved back to the US, to Atlanta. I began getting more and more into road races. I found a coach (Roy Benson) and joined him with his adult track running on Tuesday evenings. It was there; on the track about eight years ago I realized I have better speed than endurance. I'm faster and more of a "miler" than a 10k runner. It's funny; sometimes you don't know what you're good at until later on in life.

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Training Habits
I'm just racing for fun right now, mainly road races. I'll begin training in October for the masters indoor mile in March of 2010. I run six days a week and my weekly mileage varies. It depends on what I'm training for; right now I run about 35 miles. When I get into my mile training I'll try to get up to 50 miles.

I love speed sessions. Longer intervals kill me. I really have to get myself "up" for those mentally. A speed session would be 12 x 400s in varying times. All within 1-4 seconds of each repeat (80, 78, 77, 75, 79, 76 and so on). Another speed session is 100s - 30 x 100 m. Now that was one of my hardest speed sessions ever.

I work my core and do some weights, not much. I do core four days a week. Lunges, planks, back exercises. I do more core/weights on "hard" days, and back off with light core on easy/recovery days.

Cross Training
I try to get into the pool to water run (not touching the bottom). This is great, but tedious. I'm also very active when not running, walking my dogs, playing tennis and cycling.

My Best Mile Workout
One good workout is 1000 m repeats. I hate that workout, but it definitely makes you tougher. The recovery would be about 2-3 minutes in between each 1000 m. Another is a tempo run. Again, not my favorite but certainly makes me stronger. I warm up for a mile or two then run four miles at six minute pace and then a cool down. I need buddies to get me through that kind of workout.

Special Races
I ran the Munich Marathon and we finished in the Olympic Stadium. That brought tears to my eyes. Another race was just a couple of years ago, I ran the Olympic Development Mile at the Penn Relays in front of 40,000 spectators. I was the oldest woman, but not the slowest. A fantastic experience to learn what your body and mind are capable or not capable of.

Celebrating
Sometimes I celebrate after a race with champagne. If I reach my goal time, I have two drinks, if I don't, then one.

Taking Care
I'm a better stretcher than I was 10 years ago, that's for sure. I take ice baths; and I jump into my non-heated pool in Florida; after hard workout days. When I'm training for a race, I give myself six months to prepare. During that time I have a massage once or twice a week, stretch and ice regularly.

Sustenance
Oh, I'm not good in this area. I eat fruit, lots of carbs; there is no rhyme or reason to my eating habits. I eat when I'm hungry. But I really try hard to eat a healthy dinner with salad. I'm addicted to lattes. I like to indulge in vodka tonics with a lime.

My favorite pre-race food is pizza, salad and chicken. Nothing heavy or unusual.

Motivation
My running is like brushing your teeth; it's such a part of my daily routine I don't think twice about it. Rain, sleet, hot weather, you just do it.

Toughing it Out
During a track workout when I'm not reaching my goal times it's hard not to freak out. I'm getting a bit older, the body changes, so go with it. I have to keep reminding myself that I'm healthy and I'm doing something I love. My body is 43, not 33.

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It Takes a Village
My husband, Mark supports me 100%. He has never come in between my running, races, training partners, etc. If I want to get up at 4 am and run with buddies, then all the power to me. Whatever it takes to make me be better, stronger, smarter, he encourages. But, he also constantly reminds me to enjoy what I'm doing. When I'm not having fun with running/racing anymore, it's time to take a break.

I run basically alone. It's difficult to find runners who are training on the track (at least where I live). I've friends to run long easy runs with but when it comes to the harder stuff, I rely on one or two men to hit the track with, and/or to help me get through a tempo run.

Inspiration

Runner Shalane Flanaghan inspires me. She's a good gal, works hard, has her head on straight and very dedicated to running her best. I was very privileged to have her stay with me and train for three weeks. I also visited her in Mexico while she was preparing for Beijing.

She's just a normal gal, loves to eat Girl Scout cookies. But she works her butt off to get where she's got to go. I wish I had her lungs, legs, speed....

Life in Balance
I'm very lucky - I don't have a full time job. So, I can fit running in easily around my coaching and other daily chores. I run in the mornings.

Being a Woman
What I like about being a woman runner are the outfits.

Running in Her Shoes
If I could be any woman runner I'd love to be Kara Goucher, Sarah Hall, Suzy Hamilton, Shalane Flanaghan, Erin Donahue, Joan Benoit, any one of them. To make it as far as they have, to be given that chance as a youngster to run your best. Now that would've been something to experience.

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