What?!? She who has taken pride in being self-coached. Has hired a coach? Why? The reasons are many. But, I want to start with the opposite. Why haven't I enlisted the services of a coach earlier? I’d spent a lot of time, energy, and effort learning all I could about different approaches to training. Both by reading and by doing. My time kept improving. I was, am, (knock on wood) injury-free. Everything is going in a good direction, so keep at it. If ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
But, am I getting the most out of myself? I’ve talked a lot about listening to your body. Modifying the plan when you need. I’ve doing that a lot lately. Why? Is my plan too much? Am I being to easy on myself and not pushing through some things I should? I don’t know. But, those are a lot of questions to be building in my head over the past few weeks. Months. I decided that, whatever the answers to those questions are, I wanted (needed) someone else to help me answer them.
So, I started thinking about hiring a coach. Talked with the hubby (who jokingly insists that he’s being fired). Looked into many different options. Finding someone who is a good match philosophically, was important to me. Also, I wanted a runner. I’ve trusted the writings of the sports physiologists who may or may not be runners themselves. But, as the time has come for me to put my running health and success in the hands of another, I wanted a fellow runner. Someone who knows what I have and will be going through because he has, and is, going through his own training. And racing.
A new chapter in my running journey has started. My training logs will look a little different now as I’ll only be logging what I did. Because I’m doing what I’m told. No deviations. This past week was my first week since college where my running was not planned by me. There were some tough workouts, but I consider it a success and am looking forward to what’s next!
Training Log July 30- August 5, 2018: 60.8 miles.
Monday – 6.2mi @ 9:21. On the home treadmill. Lightning outside and didn’t want to chance it. Legs okay on this easy run.
Tuesday – 10.1mi @ 8:39. 2 miles easy, hard 5K, finished out easy. Only a week out from the marathon, so legs were a little heavy, especially my quads. Especially during the hard running.
Wednesday – 8.0mi @ 8:39. Steady running. Rainy, so cooler. Quads still feeling fatigued, but otherwise good. Stability session in PM.
Thursday – 7.1mi @ 8:56. Bridge run. Pressed uphill, but relaxed on down and flats. Tough, but good. Stability session in PM.
Friday – 6.2mi @ 8:56. Nice and easy.
Saturday – 13.1mi @ 8:20. First 5 miles steady, next 5 hard, and finished out easy. This was tough, but such a great feeling to have done it. Very pleased with my pace for the hard miles (7:42-7:49).
Sunday – 10.0mi @ 9:10. On home treadmill again. This time because I got up late and it was ridiculously hot. Easy peasy.
Until next week, or so.
Own it. Live it. Be it.