Yesterday I told you all about my experience taking on a running program led by my friend and colleague Jess Movold and how she got me past my fear, mild hatred and complicated relationship with running and turned me into, essentially, the second coming of Usain Bolt.
(If you missed it just search your email for my name and it will come up)
And as much as I like to make these weekly emails all about me, me, me, I’d be remiss if I didn’t fill you in on the real secret sauce to her running program.
No doubt, Jess is an amazing, motivating and well-prepared coach. And I, if I do say so myself, am a dedicated trainee.
But the magic in this whole program goes beyond the coach/trainee relationship.
No, the real sparkle is the Fort Squad.
This is the community of women and men who are in the program alongside you.
Truth is, you can find a running program for free on the internet in about 6 seconds. You can plug in your current pace and, zip zip, you’ll get a 12 week program.
But while the program is certainly important, it’s not the thing that is going to get you over the finish line.
Because just like training around other people in the gym is guaranteed to have you working harder and with more focus, having a community of runners going through the program and sharing their struggles and victories is the game-changer in getting you where you want to go.
And I have to say, Jess has done an amazing job of creating a truly strong sense of community in an online setting.
Squad members post their paces. They share videos of strength work in the gym. They give you a virtual high five when you’ve finished your tempo run. They show up for the Monday night huddles - a weekly group Zoom where everyone shares their wins of the week, hears about what is coming up in training and asks any questions they might have.
There is a famous saying that covers the idea of trying to accomplish anything difficult: it takes a village.
The Fort Squad is that village.
Whether you are in the middle of race week, trying to complete your first easy run or trying to PR your squat, these people are there for each other. They’ve got your back.
And with Jess at the helm I feel very confident in saying that the Fort Squad is the best damn running and strength training community that exists.
But, as the commercials say, don’t just take my word for it. Here are a couple of honest-to-goodness texts and messages that we’ve received from members starting out in the Fort Squad.
“Going into 2024 I’m SO grateful for you and the squad. I haven’t felt this connected to my body and strength in quite a while.”
“It was good to put some faces to the names (at the huddle last night). I love the program and how I am feeling stronger even in just a couple of weeks.”
OK, Dan, we get it. The Fort Squad is the best thing to hit the internet since Grumpy Cat and Sarcastic Willy Wonka memes. How do we get in on it?
Great question, loyal reader. Simply respond to this email with a “I’m in” or “Hell ya!” or even something less enthusiastic but equally clear that you want to take the next step forward. We’ll get you scheduled for a call with Jess and she can fill you in on all the details.
Still not ready to set up a call? No problem my skeptical friend. Tomorrow we will lay out some additional details about the Fort Squad and what you can expect when you become a member.
But a quick word of caution. As a member of our community we are opening up registration to you prior to making it available to the general public. We can only add a small handful of spots at any given time and they do tend to go quickly, So, if you are interested, reply to this email and we’ll get a call scheduled.
See you all tomorrow for the final email where we get into more of the deets.