Guest post: Why hire a coach?

“Why do I need a coach? What will a coach bring to the mix?  How will they help me?”  I’m asked these questions all the time and have my own answer…but the post below from one of my clients gives you an athlete’s perspective.

Albert Einstein once noted that the very definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Yet many athletes do the same workouts week after week, year after year, and wonder why they don’t improve.

Excellence in endurance athletics isn’t about having a breakthrough day or hoping you can push through the pain.  It’s about discipline and structured training, based on proven principles and scientific research.  Athletes improve their performance because they prepare to improve. 

Preparation is why if you’re serious about improving your performance, you should consider a hiring a coach.

A qualified coach will help you structure your training towards specific goals.  He or she will work with you to plan your season, plan your schedule, and tailor a plan to help you achieve your goal – whether it’s qualifying for the world championships or making it across your first finish line.

A good coach is part scientist, part time management professional, part cheerleader, and part shrink. A coach will help apply the tested and proven principles of periodization, task-specfic stress and training, and planned rest and recovery into your plan in a way that works for your life and goals.  A coach will encourage you to push yourself in the right ways and at the right times.  He or she will help you develop a plan for race week and race day.  And, importantly, your coach will help you work through the setbacks and disappointments that naturally come into any athlete’s training and race plan.

Most importantly, though, your coach will help apply the Goldilocks principle to your training – ensuring that it’s not too little or too much for what you’re trying to accomplish…but that it’s just right.

Working with a coach isn’t always easy for competitive athletes because it requires a leap of faith.  Your coach will ask you to do things that are new, different, uncomfortable, and even counterintuitive.  Rest more. Go slower so you can go faster.  Lift weights. Do core work. Stretch.  Cross train.  Eat different foods.  Think different thoughts. Do different things.

If you’re serious about changing the results of your training, you need to change your training.  And, much as you would hire someone to install a new furnace because someone else knows more about how to do it than you probably do (you could  probably figure it out…but why?!), you should consider hiring someone who knows how to train an athlete to make you faster, stronger, more focused, and more race ready.

Case in point:  I hired my first coach in 2000.  He made me go slower – much slower than I’d gone historically – for the base training period of the season. I hated it, but followed his plan – I was paying for it after all…might as well try it.  The day of the Chicago Shamrock Shuffle I was scheduled to do a 90 minute aerobic run. I did my first hour as a slow run along the lakefront, and figured I’d do the last part of the run as a participant (not competitor) in the race, on a supported course, in a big group.  Thirty seconds after the gun went off I threw caution to the wind and went hard instead of staying aerobic. Cruise through a race?! I PRed at 8K that day…after a 60 minute warm up.  My coach was right. Going slower made me faster.  I was hooked.

The following year I was 39 years old and training for my first Ironman.  I had followed my coach’s plan to the letter. He had tapered me for one of my three “A” races (the Cleveland Triathlon), and at the swim start I felt like a well-trained racehorse coming out of the starting gate.  I followed my coach’s plan in each of the three disciplines, and I was first in my age group in each.  I finished first in my age group in all three events – a first. I was the fifth person across the line even though I was in the second wave.  When the results were posted, I learned that I was the overall winner.  At age 39.

I called my coach to thank him.  “Congratulations” he said. “But it’s a team effort.  I helped you do the right workouts. You actually did them. This really does work.”

It does. But it is a team effort.  Your coach will help you plan your work. It’s up to you to work your plan, to have the mental and physical discipline to do the workouts, make the intervals, get the rest, and stick to the plan.  Don’t do more because you feel great.  Don’t do less because you feel tired.  Don’t change the workout because you think you know better.  Racehorses don’t do more or less than their trainers ask of them. They rely upon their trainers to get them ready the right way. It’s why they run well.  It’s the same way with a coached athlete.

It’s a leap of faith, but it works.

I took a few years off from being “serious” and then decided that as I approached a key age milestone it was time to play hard again.  Last year, I hired Mary Bradbury.  At the age of 48 I put up my third best time ever at Olympic distance.  I was back on the podium.

It works.

As I look ahead to the 2012 season, I know that Mary knows precisely what I want to accomplish, that she has worked within my time, age, and life constraints to put together a plan that will help me get there, and that she’ll encourage me to do whatever I can – with her guidance – to achieve those goals. They’re ambitious.  They require work and discipline.  And I have every bit of confidence that if I follow the plan, I can hit them.

Tired of getting what you’ve been getting? Want to get better?  Consider professional help. Hire a coach.

-Stephen P. Ban

Motivation/goals

Ah, motivation.  Many people have inquired as to how to keep it during the dreary winter months.  If only I could provide a blanket answer, but we are all motivated by different things.  Regardless, there are always ebbs and flows, but one factor all successful people share is simple, goals.

So let’s start by creating some.  Choose short-term and long so you’ll have some by week, month, and year.  Motivation will be certain to wane if only long-term goals are set.  It’s just so far away.  Having weekly and monthly goals will help keep you focused and consistent. It’s more about the process anyways. If you solely focus on your long-term goal, you are sure to lack some motivation as well as miss the benefits of the journey, which could ultimately make you less successful.

Another factor for success, and a huge one, is desire.  Talking the talk is one thing, walking the walk is another.  If you truly desire your goal, you’ll put your money where your mouth is.

In the end, it’s up to you, but here are some tips to help with motivation:

1) Have a plan.  Imagine how difficult it would be to start a business, lose weight, train or race, etc without one.  A plan will help you stay organized, focused, and motivated.

2) Write down why you desire this goal.  More desire=more motivation=more likely to achieve goal.

3) Be accountable. Tell family and friends about your goals.  The more people you tell, the more likely you are to stay motivated.  Plus they’ll be a good support group.

4) Jot down some motivational quotes, thoughts, or music.  Post them where you can see them daily.

5) Remember, setbacks are ok, in fact, expect them.  What you learn from them and how quickly you bounce back can make all the difference.

6) Most likely, you will need to make some changes in order to achieve your goal.  On that note, here is a good question I just read somewhere: ’If you continue to follow the same patterns, what are the chances you’ll ever experience the things you want to do and ever become the person you hope to be?’

7) Take stock.  At the end of every day,  ask yourself what you did well, where you could improve,  what would you have done differently.

8) Stay positive.  No one is motivated 100% of the time so don’t beat yourself up if you stray on occasion.   On the flip side, if you find yourself off track more often than not, you need to reassess your goals.

9) Will your way.  Visualization can be of great benefit!  Frequently take time to sit down, close your eyes, and envision yourself accomplishing your goal using as many details as possible.

Now get after it!!!

Do you have a plan?

With New Years resolutions abound, you’d think there would be plans to coincide.  How often have you heard resolutions such as; I am going to lose xx pounds, I’m going to start a business, I’m going to go get a best time in a race, I’m going to do an Ironman, I’m going to get out of debt, etc?  No doubt, these are great goals, but HOW will they be met?  A well thought out plan is the best way.  Unfortunately, many people don’t have any semblance of a plan. Think about it, what steps do you need to take in order to accomplish your goal?  Is it indeed a true goal or an unrealistic dream?  The deciding factor may simply come down to how committed you are.  Are you willing to make some sacrifices?  Are you willing to put in the time it takes?  Are you willing to make some possible lifestyle changes?  Are you willing to make and stick to a plan?  Most likely, you won’t meet your goals if you don’t make some changes.  If you’re not willing to make them, then make your goal more attainable, easier, or change it all together.  Being realistic about all this is often the most difficult part.

Now, if you have a goal you really want to attain, then get out there and create a plan…and stick to it as best as you can!  Good luck!

Tick tock!

Tick tock, as my friend Jen Harrison keeps kindly reminding me.  ;)  Yes, tomorrow (the 28th) is my 40th and I’ve had such mixed feelings about it all year.  Yes all year, thanks to USAT (USA Triathlon).  You see, we have to race the age we are as of December 31st so in my head I’ve already pretty much been 40 all year.  But today, today has been a roller-coaster, the last hours in my 30′s.  Yes, I am being somewhat dramatic, but that’s how I feel.  All in all, I can’t complain one iota though!  I have a wonderful family and friends, a new business,  and other jobs I love!  I know I am fortunate and I try hard not to take anything for granted.

So, here are some random thoughts I recall from past decades.  As a teen, the thought of aging never really occurred to me, age 20 seemed cool, 30 old, and 40, well, that was certainly over the hill! In general, everything was a big bowl of cherries.  In my 20′s, freedom!  I loved working, the new responsibilities,  being able to travel on a whim,  I was filled with knowledge (or so I thought), and later in that decade, I married Scott and we started a 6 year adventure in Seattle.  The 30′s entailed some self-doubt as I realized how much I didn’t know, but in part because some of my perspectives changed.  Also because I was no longer fulfilled with my accounting career. (I’m not certain I ever was). Fortunately, my love for coaching swimming returned as well as a new zest for not only participating in triathlons, but coaching athletes for them too!  And here I am in the last hour of my 30′s loving it all!  40 IS young, my mind is young, and although my body is starting to feel older, I’m still quite active and loving it!  In the end, I realize turning 40 is just another day in my life and it’s all good.

Oh, and I forgot to share my birthday wish!  I would love for all of you to do 2 things this week; 1) Let someone know how much you appreciate them.  2) Do a good deed for a stranger.  Here are some ideas; anonymously pay for someones coffee or meal,  carry an elder persons groceries to their car, volunteer to babysit someones kids for a couple of hours, do some charity work, donate blood, etc.  You get the idea.  ;)

Thanks for reading!!!

Hot Chocolate 15k Race Report

Shame on me for not getting this out earlier, but here are some quick thoughts from the Chicago Hot Chocolate 15k race from back in November.

My goal going into the race was to definitely run sub 7′s, and stretch to try and go 6:50 miles throughout.

I had two good 5ks and a solid 10k in the months prior to the race, and my training had been going quite well. I was averaging about 35 miles a week in October and had switched my training around to incorporate a good mix of long intervals (1000s to mile repeats) and speed work usually doing 200s and 400s.

Race morning dawned clear and cold. Temps in the 40s. Perfect racing weather. This race has gotten quite big, but RAM wised up this year and changed the route downtown to all city streets. No more lakefront path cluster like in 2010. The start and finish in Grant Park now match what they do with the marathon and shamrock shuffle 8k.

Race time rolls around. I hooked up with Noxons and the Morgans in the start corral about 20 yards from the line.

The gun goes off and things open up real quick. The biggest issue with running downtown is that the Garmin can’t handle the tall buildings, so there are long stretches where it’s not accurately showing me my pace. In addition, the first mile starts with the lower wacker tunnel, so I have no idea how I’m doing. I’m holding back, trying to not go out too fast, and it turns out I overdid it as I go thru the first mile marker at 7:10 or so. Oops. Too slow. I picked up the pace to hit mile 2 at 6:41. From there I calmed down and knocked out 6:55 or so for the next 6 miles. I felt pretty good. I was working hard but not losing it.

At mile 8 I kicked it in gear and finished up fast averaging 6:44 or so until the finish. Total time: 1:04:15 for a 6:53 avg pace. Considering my time in 2010 was 1:08:40 I was pleased with the improvement. I was also pleased with the negative split, even though I may could have emptied the tank a little earlier and not gone out so slow.

Afterwards it was chocolate time with the girls!

RAM racing recently got ripped for putting on a crap version of this race in Washington DC. You can read one race report from DCRainmaker here. I was not surprised. I’ve always thought RAM falters when it comes to logistics and course management. They love fancy schwag, and they love cramming tons of people onto their courses (south shore triathlon=unsafe) and constantly spout off like they are the be all end all when it comes to race management. The Chicago course this year was much improved, but they have no idea how to do start corrals properly, insist on a narrow start lane funnel, and the whole day before packet pickup? Huge pain in the ass. Nothing worse than spending 2 hours hoofing it downtown from the suburbs so I can blow 20 bucks on parking just so I can spend 10 seconds grabbing my bib. I’d gladly pay 10 extra bucks to have it mailed and happily pick up my goodie bag day of race.

Back to the race I do have one final tip. If you are wearing a gps watch in a race downtown, turn off the autolap. If the signal is going in and out and you try to autolap at 1 mile intervals you are not going to get an accurate read on your pace. You just have to look for the mile markers on the course and trust they have them measured properly and manually capture your lap times. You can see my garmin file here.

Thanks for reading!

Holiday Wait!

Tis the season for holiday wait, I mean weight!  Actually the wait may help your weight.  Confused?  Think of how long you spend waiting in lines, waiting on the phone, waiting in traffic, etc…Take advantage of this time to help with your weight.  Here are some examples:

1) Instead of circling the parking lots waiting for the best spot, drive directly to the back of the lot and walk!  It’ll reduce your wait time, yet add a little exercise to your day.

2) Rather than waiting for the elevator, take the stairs.

3) While waiting in traffic, do derriere clenches.  Yes, I said it.

4) Pull your belly-button in as far as you can and hold 10-20 seconds.  This one can be done waiting anywhere!

5) Bored waiting for that commercial to be over?  There are so many things you can do; push-ups, ab exercises, squats, lunges, wall sits, jumping jacks, triceps extensions, bicep curls, etc.  Heck, why just do all this stuff during commercials, do them during the show!

Get the gist?  We all have a little time to help with our weight while we wait!  ;)

Inspiration

This is the time of year when many athletes are taking a break in training, which is all good.  Some people never stop and a few have races coming up soon.  Regardless of where you are in your season, it’s a good time to really think about what inspires you to train or workout.  What and/or who is it that truly inspires/motivates you???

For me, well, I’ve had a few months off due to a back injury.  So I am rearing to go and pretty much EVERYTHING has been inspiring me.  TV is rarely on my agenda, but I watched The Biggest Loser tonight and was completely impressed and inspired as the contestants ran a freakin’ marathon!!! Now I’ve been fortunate to accomplish many things in my life, but a marathon is not one of them.  (Honestly, I’ve had no desire).   Regardless,  this feat was truly amazing to watch!

Now, if you’re more of a couch potato and think you can’t even do a 5k, well you are sadly mistaken (with very few exceptions). I’m not necessarily encouraging you to do one, but I would love for you to find some activity which excites you enough to get off the couch and get your heart pumping for a little while.  Grab a family member, friend, or colleague, and do something.  Go for a walk, take a hike, walk up some stairs or parking ramps, try cross-country skiing,  jump rope with your kids, try yoga…you get the gist.  There really is no excuse.  If your health is important to you, you will find a way.  Just seek that inspiration and get out there!

Now, get to your keyboard and leave a comment as to what inspires you.  Your comment may very well inspire another reader!  ;)

This and that

My mom just had her annual blood test and she remains cancer free!  Yes!!!

Courtney informed me that she’d like to get married in a Spiderman wedding dress.

Sarah left a long message for my parents on their answering machine, yes, an answering machine, by ending with, ‘please press 1 to end this call or press 2 for more options!’  Hilarious!

The Bradbury clan has never shown nor mentioned anything about Transformers, yet Sarah and Courtney are obsessed with them.  Thanks Luke and Alex.  ;)

I LOVE Siri!  (If you don’t know what this is, Google it.  It’s an awesome iPhone feature).

Ok, I’ll admit it.  I’m going through somewhat of a mid-life crisis as I am just over a month away from a BIG birthday. With that, I’ll be celebrating in various ways for about a month!

Oh, the girls have requested 3 brothers!  Um, not!!!  I would love to have 1-2 though…more dogs!  ;)

In the 2.5 weeks since my cortisone shot, my back is much better! Yay!  Hopefully I can cease training as a couch potato soon!

If anyone needs to hire an incredible announcer, contact Scott. He truly does have a gift for it!

I hope you had a terrific Thanksgiving!

The Cleanse

I endured and it wasn’t so bad, not nearly as difficult as I’d anticipated.  I was quite apprehensive with the thought of no caffeine, no dairy, no beef, no gluten, no chocolate (gasp)!, no vino, and only 1 meal of solid foods per day…for 21 days!

Week one was a breeze as I was excited to execute this ‘goal.’  9 pounds were shed and my typical bloating was gone within the first 5 days too!  Week 2, well that was a bit of a downer.  Although I felt energetic and über healthy, I missed having solid meals.  Plus the few times I tried to work out, I had absolutely no energy, my legs felt empty. And, I only jogged for 20 minutes each time. But note, although the book encourages working out in order to aid in the detox process, it says not to do so intensely.  I totally agree!  So if you’re an athlete, only consider doing this in your time off or in your off-season.

By week three, I could see the light so it was easier to stick with it. One word really summed up this last week though, fear.  Fear that when I completed this I’d either gorge or I’d be afraid to eat anything.  What do you think I did???

My main reason for doing this was to eliminate most foods which typically cause GI issues, which I’ve struggled with for years.  (For those of you who don’t know: last year I was diagnosed with ischemic colitis, but as of a couple months ago, it was deemed gone.  Yet I still had issues, so it must be food).  I slowly added gluten back first and felt just fine.  Unfortunately,  due to back issues, I was not allowed to workout so I really have no idea if running will continue to be a problem.  That being said, I really need to do this cleanse again after I have clearance to resume training.  Regardless, this was certainly not a waste!  My mind and body really do feel different, I’m not certain how to explain it though, but it’s all good!

It’s been 2 weeks since I’ve been off and I still feel this difference although my body is ‘polluted’ once again.  I’ve been eating gluten, consuming caffeine, eating some chocolate, but dairy, that’s what I’ve had the least of.  Prior to the cleanse, cheese, cottage cheese, yogurt, and milk were a large part of my diet.  In the aftermath, I’ve been using  primarily almond milk in my cereal and have only had a little cheese .  Weird considering I used to crave and eat it all so much.  My weight has only increased by 4 pounds, but I expected that, you have to…unless you stay on the cleanse your entire life.  And the purpose of this for me wasn’t weight loss as it’s not a diet.  It’s a detox.  Note however, they do recommend a way in which to eat for a lifetime by cutting out certain foods.  Again, not for weight loss, but to deter diseases, allergies, cancer, and a plethora of other ailments.

To be clear, I didn’t follow it a 100% either as I didn’t take any supplements, nor did I partake in, shall I say, waste management.   I could have done it, I simply chose not to. The key to all this is to be VERY organized!  There are a ton of fresh ingredients you need to prepare all the smoothies for b-fast and dinner, let alone all the solid meals for lunch.  I swear I was at the grocery store every other day for the first 10 days as things were either difficult to find or they went bad within a couple of days. That was the hardest part!

So, do I recommend reading Clean and doing the cleanse?  Heck yeah!  And this is coming from someone who has always been incredibly skeptical of ALL cleanses!  You can bet your bottom dollar I will be doing this at least once a year now and maybe even one day weekly!!!

The Big News!!!

It’s official, our new baby has arrived!:

In a nutshell, there are oodles of changes going on around here!  Our current website, MaryBradbury. com, will become obsolete shortly (not of our choosing) so we will need to build a new one.  In the meantime, know that our coaching business is officially off the ground and is taking on new clients.  For those of you who don’t know Scott and me, we are far from newbies to all this.  We’ve been athletes and coaches for many years.  The bulk of our clients in years past have been triathletes, but many were runners and swimmers too.  We’ve trained people of all backgrounds and experience levels, from those brand new to the sports arena to those who have qualified for the ITU World Championships.  And you know what?  We wouldn’t have it any other way as they all inspire us every day.  So, if you want to get off the couch for the first time and/or see how much you can accomplish, let us do all the thinking and planning.  Just contact me at mbtri@mac.com or Scott at stbradbury@me.com and we’ll get you all set up!

Happy training!

Mary & Scott Bradbury

Co-owners of Bradbury Fitness LLC