Erin Quinn

Erin on Ultrarunning, Writing & Coaching

Everything running, ultrarunning, coaching, and outdoor adventures!

Erin Quinn is the Head Coach ofHawks Swimming as well as an award-winning journalist. She’s also a certified ultrarunning coach, a lifelong runner, trail-runner, ultrarunner, triathlete and outdoor enthusiast. Quinn is a mom of 3 and a lover of writing, adventuring and seeking new challenges. She lives in New Paltz, NY, and enjoys training in and writing about the Shawangunk Ridge (The Gunks.)

A passionate environmentalist, Quinn is a member of POW (Protect Our Winters,) The Climate Reality Project and local outdoor land preservation and open space consortiums. She believes that the more people are connected with the natural world through walking, running, exploring, the more they will value it and protect it as well as cherishing their own bodies.

USA Certified Swimming Coach & UESCA certified Ultrarunning Coach

Latest Blog Posts:

  • Winter Running Hacks
    It’s that time of year. At least, here in the Northeast. I’m so excited to have a real winter again, but as a runner, it definitely limits my options. The beautiful system of 19th Century Victorian carriage roads that are my go-to training grounds here in the Shawangunk Mountains are groomed and occupied by cross-country… Read more: Winter Running Hacks
  • The Middle Miles
    I woke up today feeling frantic. The only part of Christmas I have engaged in was to purchase a wreath from the local church bazar. No presents, no stockings, no poinsettias, no holiday sparkle. As I wrote in my journal—something I usually do first thing in the morning, I realized that I had this odd… Read more: The Middle Miles
  • DFL (Dead Fucking Last)
    I was at Thanksgiving dinner at my mom’s house when I received a text from an athlete I coach. She had just completed the local Turkey Trot. She sent me a picture she and her sister at the finish and said how happy she was with the time she ran. I congratulated her and thought… Read more: DFL (Dead Fucking Last)
I think it’s important to train in all types of weather because we never know what we’re going to get on race day! I believe that part of building the mental fortitude we’re going to need on race day (and in life) comes from being uncomfortable. If you’re training for ultramarathon or even a longer outdoor race or multi-day event you can’t predict what type of weather or conditions you will encounter. Mud, hail, rain, snow, sleet, heat, humidity, wind, freezing temperatures? Get used to them and practice running through them so that you’re less thrown off if you encounter them during a race. Two major races, the @cocodona250 and @destinationtrailraces Moab 240, both in desert settings, experienced severe rainstorms, hailstorms, freezing and mudslide conditions. Being able to push forward and adjust and accept those wild weather conditions was critical to being able to finish the race. Getting outside and working through conditions that are not ideal, or ones that challenge you and even slow you down, is great mental training and helps to build confidence when those weather reports start to come in the week leading up to the race. As a friend of mine once said, “there is no cure for hot or cold. Just acceptance.” I struggle with the heat so I was out there this summer doing back-to-back long runs and finding streams to submerge myself in. What weather do you find most challenging? Hope you’re enjoying your run or walk today, whatever the weather is 🙌🏼 One Year Today A simple but powerful habit is to write down at least one thing that you think you did well during your run. It can be as simple as “I showed up and got it done,” to more specific things like a good 3d hill repeat effort or having a positive attitude even when the run got challenging or finishing strong or simply taking some moments to look around and be grateful for your surroundings. Write it down. The act of writing helps wire your brain to emphasize what did go well and what small victories you did have and little by little you’re growing this written body of daily successes. It also helps you put the run away. Tuck it in. Make it part of a larger running narrative. You’ll start to look forward to it! You can write it in a journal or a training app or both. It’s fun to look back and see all of the times where you were proud of yourself. Where you pushed, when you showed up after not wanting to, when you surprised yourself by getting through a speed workout you were dreading. Or when you trained your mind to focus on the shapes of trees or cool cloud formations or colors of the sunset rather than your tired legs! 1 thing. Maybe more but at least 1. It’s a simple thing that helps strengthen your confidence along with your aerobic endurance! #ultrarunning #trailrunning #ultramarthon #gunks #running #mentaltraining #runningjournal The People You Meet Along the Way Running it Back Stewart’s to Stewart’s Ultra. What about a 50K course that links the New Paltz Stewart’s to the Rosendale Stewart’s via the Wallkill Valley Rail Trail and possibly up to one in Kingston and back? The Stewart’s shops could serve as the aid-stations. Apple fritters, hot chili, rotisserie hotdogs, coffee, Red Bull and scratch off lottery tickets? What more do you need? Here’s the big question: What should the run be called and do you think I could get sponsored? Or even a free scoop of Moose Tracks? #ultrarunning #ultramarthon #ultramarathontraining #stewarts #upstatenewyork After the Leaves Half Marathon over the Years Celebrate your effort and training and the courage it took to get to the starting line of an ultramarathon. The longer the races the more unpredictable the outcome will be. Everyone focuses on the DNF but what about the ISU (I Showed Up?) We’re so focused on the finish line that we forget to celebrate the start line and all of the miles it took to get there. With all of the hard training we do half the battle is just getting to the start line in one piece. Surviving a big training block without getting injured or sidelined is a victory in and of itself. I know it hurts to shoot your shot and not hit whatever bullseye you were aiming at. But it also takes courage to put yourself out there and try something as big and daunting as an ultra. Did you learn something? Did you do some things that worked? Did you give it your best effort? Did you have to overcome a lot of fear and doubt and hard training to get there? Then those are wins. Feel the disappointment. Because it can be crushing to do everything right and still fall short. But then write down 3 things that worked for you either in training or the race. Acknowledge those wins and tell yourself “good job.” Then it’s time to let it go. Find something else that energizes your training. Put it on the calendar. Use the things that did work and put them in your ultra toolbox and keep chipping away. We’re going to stumble in ultras and in life. Both can seem so overwhelming. But the main thing is not to sit inside your perceived failure. Not to beat yourself up. Do you know how few people even attempt something like a 50 or 100-mile run? Probably a lot less than are shopping in the nearest Walmart to you this Friday. You’re in a rare tribe of people who enjoy running enormous distances, who love the outdoors and who want to challenge themselves. That’s leaves a large margin for error, and an even greater margin for growth. Keep moving forward. Action is the antithesis of anxiety. As soon as you begin to plan for your next adventure? You’re on your way back to what it is that you love doing. Tag someone that you think needs to hear this 💕#ultrarunning #trailrunning #ultramarathontraining #ultramarthon #dnf #isu Running is hard but guess what? You’ve done harder things. When you’re out there training or racing or in a real low moment on those trails think about something that you’ve done or are still doing that was really hard and painful and required you to get down on your hands and knees and pray for relief or cry yourself to sleep feel so desperate that you weren’t sure you were going to live through it. You have the strength inside you. You’re capable of doing this run or that race or whatever physical challenge you decide to do because it builds you up and brings you joy and makes you healthier and happier despite how challenging it can be. Lean into it because it’s a hard we get to choose. Many of us have endured heartbreak and illness or have lost a job, or worked 3 jobs just to keep a roof over our heads. We’ve have hit rock bottom and had to recover from an addiction or have lost someone we love. These are things that you have endured that are way harder than the run before you. Call on that in the moments when it hurts or you want to stop or you think you’re not tough enough to get through the workout or the race. You’re stronger than you know 💕

Contact Erin

erinmaryquinn@gmail.com

#keepmoving