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Michael Hammond and Jeff Gaudette: How New Virtual Tools Will Transform Your Running and Racing

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Some big changes have been happening this year at RunnersConnect. You may or may not have noticed that company founder Jeff Gaudette has been a little quieter than usual while working on a mystery project and Michael Hammond has stepped up as CEO. Coach Claire interviews them both to find out what\\u2019s been going on and what RunnersConnect members can expect to see going forward.

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First, Head Coach Michael Hammond tells us who he is, what big changes were happening in RunnersConnect heading into 2020, and how the company has pivoted in response to the pandemic. How does an online coaching platform focused on training runners for races stay relevant during these unprecedented times when essentially every race for the year has been canceled?

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Next, Jeff Gaudette discusses his exciting new company he\\u2019s been working on behind the scenes to help you stay motivated and at your running best during this new norm of virtual racing. He\\u2019s come up with a great new way to make individual racing fair, fun, and more engaging. There\\u2019s definitely a lot to look forward to!

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Jeff Gaudette is an elite marathoner who founded RunnersConnect in 2011 as a better way to coach his personal clients. He was a two-time Division-I All-American in Cross Country at Brown University and competed professionally for four years afterwards. He has competed internationally in numerous marathons with a personal best of 2:22:02, and has recorded Olympic Trials qualifying times in the marathon and 10,000 meters.

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Jeff\\u2019s coaching career started in 2004 when he was a member of the Hansons-Brooks professional team. He\\u2019s had success at all levels of coaching; high school, college, local elite, and everyday runners. Under his tutelage, hundreds of runners have finished their first marathon and he\\u2019s helped countless runners qualify for Boston. Jeff has been featured in Running Times magazine, Endurance Magazine, as well as numerous local magazine fitness columns.\\xa0

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Michael Hammond is the Head Coach and newly appointed CEO of RunnersConnect. He competed in cross country and track while at Virginia Tech, earning two ACC titles and four NCAA All-American honors.\\xa0 His individual efforts led his team to four ACC team championships: one in cross country, two in indoor track, and one in outdoor track.

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Post-collegiately, Michael has competed formerly as a member of Furman Elite in Greenville, South Carolina and currently as an independent athlete. He now trains at his alma mater while also serving as a volunteer assistant with the team.

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Michael\\u2019s passion for helping athletes succeed began while counseling high school runners at\\xa0 cross country camps. Since then he has coached several local athletes of various ability levels while continuing to gain experience at the college level. You can catch him every Friday on the Team Update segments of the Run To The Top podcast.

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Questions Michael and Jeff are asked:

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2:35 2020 has been a historic year, to say the least, with everything that is going on in the world.\\xa0 Big changes were going on in Runners Connect before the pandemic hit and we expected an exciting year, but obviously nothing like this could have been predicted.\\xa0 If we can rewind to December 2019, what was your vision for Runners Connect in 2020?

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6:24 Most of our listeners do know what RunnersConnect offers, but for those who don\\u2019t, could you just give just a quick elevator speech of exactly if you go to RunnersConnect, what are you looking at? What would you get if you go to RunnersConnect?

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8:31 Let\\u2019s get into all the races being canceled. Traditionally, RunnersConnect has always been race-oriented, meaning that most of our athletes sign up with a particular race in mind, so obviously RunnersConnect had to make some changes. What were the changes that RunnersConnect made?

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13:45 Speaking of getting fitter and stronger, you have been doing something a little special with strength training. Do you want to talk about what you\\u2019ve been doing pretty much since the pandemic started to help people get strong?

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22:00 You mentioned that you and Jeff came up with this idea for live sessions, so we\\u2019re going to hear from him at the end of our conversation, but I would love to talk about Jeff while he\\u2019s not here for a second. We at RunnersConnect never really made a big splash or a big announcement about where is Jeff and who is this guy Michael? So I\\u2019m going to give the ball to you and talk about that. What on earth has happened to Jeff Gaudette and who are you, Michael?

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28:57 We\\u2019ve got some great things coming up for our RC members, and I will ask Jeff when he comes on about some of those exciting new features, but before we wrap up with you, Michael, what do you see happening in the future of RunnersConnect? I know it\\u2019s hard to see so far with nobody knows when this pandemic\\u2019s going to end, but anything you\\u2019d like to share about how we\\u2019re moving forward?

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40:18 Jeff, can you talk about your new company Fitually, how it started and why it\\u2019s so special?

Questions I ask everyone:

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33:39 If you could go back and talk to yourself when you first started running, what advice would you give yourself?

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35:16 What is the greatest gift that running has given you?

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37:49 Where can listeners connect with you?

Quotes by Michael and Jeff:

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\\u201cWe want to provide every single resource we possibly can to give you what you need to run your best.\\u201d

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\\u201cSo much of RunnersConnect in the past has always been like a utility. You want to run \\u2018X\\u2019 time or finish \\u2018X\\u2019 race or run \\u2018X\\u2019 distance, you come to us; we help you achieve that. Bam.\\xa0 That\\u2019s it. Whereas there\\u2019s so much more to it than that. People desire so much more to it than that. So I think that\\u2019s been a huge learning point to me in doing live sessions.\\u201d

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\\u201cWe\\u2019re definitely going to do everything we can to improve the running lives and just the lives in general from a holistic standpoint of everyone who\\u2019s one of our athletes or one of our listeners.\\u201d

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\\u201cI started to think, is there a way that we can make virtual events better? Is there a way we can bring some of the elements that make in-person races exciting to a virtual event?\\u201d

Take a Listen on Your Next Run

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Mentioned in this podcast:\\xa0

email Michael

RunnersConnect

Fitually

Runners Connect Winner\'s Circle Facebook Community

RunnersConnect Facebook page

claire@runnersconnect.net

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Follow Michael on:

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Instagram

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