M&M's for Race Nerves

I am SO happy to finally be feeling race nerves again! Saturday will be the first time in 18 months that I've been able to race something longer than an hour! Yippee!

Some things never change though. A few of the thoughts visiting me in the last few days:
-I haven't trained well enough for the distance. This is going to suck and I will embarass myself.
-I can't go that fast for that long. This is going to suck and I will embarass myself.
-I can't swim in waves that big/water that cold. This is going to suck and I will embarass myself.
-I can't run up hills fast enough. This is going to suck and I will embarass myself.

The difference these days is that I don't really believe in those fairytales anymore, so I wave my magic "I'm to old and been around this block too many times to believe my own mental bullcrap" wand and just get fun pre-race jitters instead.

It's rather nice!

Melissa Whitten and Maris Ditolla (M&M), TriLife's new coaches, were over yesterday morning to work on some plans for the upcoming year, and we had more than one good laugh about the mistakes - both mental and physical - we've made over our years of racing and training. We all agreed that those mistakes have made us better as athletes....I also happen to think they make us better as coaches too.


Melissa...aka IronRunner...and her lovely fam...


and Maris...aka UltraIronWoman!

They are also very photogenic...which helps drive traffic to our website. ;)

Sorry guys, I couldn't help it!

I've posted about it before, but just for the record, I've had some of the best coaches one could hope for - Janda, Bill, John O., John S., and I've learned most from them when they've admitted their own mistakes and personal foibles, and how they've addressed them. Their athletic abilities were always far secondary to me, even though they were all formidable. I've also worked with some flat out terrible coaches...and I might have learned just as much from them.

Great coaches have an odd mix of characteristics:
-They are passionate about their sport(s).
-They can see the pitfalls of their sport despite that passion.
-They are proficient in their sport.
-They've struggled enough to know what it feels like.
-They are competitive and demanding.
-They care more about helping their clients reach their athletic potential than they do about reaching their own.
-They make mistakes.
-They correct said mistakes and learn from the process (as opposed to making the same mistake over and over).
-They are in demand because athletes respond to their methods.
-They aren't in the business to make money/the business side is secondary to the people side of coaching.
-They are adept scientists and researchers.
-They are human artists.
-They have developed methods that work.
-They are never afraid to question their methods or try something new.
-They can coach a wide range of athletes to their potential.
-They coach every athlete as an individual.
-Their own lives are full.
-They respect the place of sport in a well-rounded life.

That's a formidable list, and one that I'm only starting to dent myself. I have spent a long time looking for partners who had those traits or the ability to develop them with experience, and who also had the personalities, logistical framework, and interests to fit within the philosophy, structure, and culture I've built at TriLife. It's so nice to finally have not one but TWO now to share the ride.

Glad you're on board M&M :)

a