“We have a heartbeat.”
Powerful words from an athlete who’s been trying to start a family for some time, despite grief and loss. Over several months, we shifted training to take on new meaning as she coped and tried to process it all and try again.
A family choosing to open their home to a pair of foster kids who needed love and patience, all while raising two young kids of their own. This meant training changes but doesn’t have to mean it stops. It was a time to take a step back and control the controllables when everything else felt like chaos.
These are just examples of what coaching REALLY means. The hard conversations about fueling to help an athlete regain a period for the first time in far too long or being the person to give guidance as a runner comes back from Covid so we aren’t sidelined for weeks, from things that could’ve been prevented with a gentle come-back approach.
I do this because I love it.
Folks get faster and stronger but we also work on LIFE. We don’t train in a bubble and our real-world obligations don’t care if it’s time to PR. Training does help us handle stress but training IS stress and it’s hard to separate the pair when we can’t see the forest for the trees.
A good coach knows about your life. They know your strengths and weaknesses and they lift you up BUT they’re also that place to land when the bottom falls out, from a big swing that didn’t go your way.
I love coaching and I love learning the ins-and-outs of athletes as we all line up to race this life. It’s a gift and I’m honored every day. Thank you for letting me be a part of your life-long race plan.
Photo credit: Nathan Alexander