Confession's of a Coach-5:

Okay, so far this month, I've done pretty well! I've managed to follow my really big overwhelming training schedule! Yippee! I've gotten in a few 15 milers, some 9 milers with tempo training, speed work, and a few runs with my Runwell Training Team. I even got one of my bike rides in! As of July 1st, I've been able to follow the schedule. I've had to switch most of my evening runs to early morning runs. I am trying to balance my training, Runwell Training, and some social - family time. It's been a mental challenge for me! I have realized that I have been trying to find a way not to succeed - Old habits. Before I took up running, my life was a continuation of good starts but never finishing. A lot of great ideas for myself, but I would find reasons not to finish. When I started running, some years ago, the idea of training as a runner came to me from left field. I promise! - that thought was not even on my radar. Amazingly, that has been the one thing that I started and I have continued with consistency. I picked a goal, trained for it, and TA DA...I finished what I set out to do. That one theme has overlapped in all my affairs! That's a great thing. Along with that, it has empowered me to become a risk taker in life. Now, I put myself out there and it's exciting to see what happens. Let's face it, challenges are a lot easier if you just give up! It takes a tremendous amount of courage to keep trying, while not knowing if you will succeed. Starting Runwell Training was another big risk. You will hear me say, again and again, that running is more mental than physical for me. So with all my fears and excuses in my arsenal, I decided to go back to one of my old motto's; "Bring the body and the mind will follow!"
I'm having to do a lot of self-talk just like the speeches I give to new runners. Show up! If you show up for your training runs, guess what? - You become a better runner. If you follow the training schedule, you will hit your goal. On top of all that, it's forcing me to get more sleep and fuel my body properly. There is no way that I can perform without rest and fuel. Okay, I can assure you that I'm not through talking smack about the training schedule and I'm still a little convinced that Coach Phelan is crazy when he is making up my schedule. However, my mantra of "Bring the body and the mind will follow!" seems to be working right now...so I will keep using it. There's more coming later, but for now... I've gotta run.