A Letter to My Coach

Dear Coach, 

I wanted to say thank you. I wanted to say thank you because a lot of times my gratitude for what you do is lost behind the bitterness of resting and hibernation, the exhaustion of your workouts and my own stubbornness. So, I'm thanking you although you've only been my coach for a few months. I'm sure that being my friend and training partner prepared you for what you were taking on when you kept hinting I should become your athlete...well, I at least hope it did! I wanted to say thank you for pushing me and giving me that tough love I need in order to get it through my stubborn head that you actually do know what is right for me. 

I've always been stubborn, hard headed and tend to over push myself. Since I was a competitive year round swimmer at age eight, I remember always striving to be better, to be the best I could be. Not to mention my two older siblings were incredible athletes, and still are! Being the youngest behind a D1 Water Polo All American athlete and a professional triathlete who was the only walk on to the UR XC team was a little intimidating, but it made me the athlete I am today. I strive to have fun, train hard and be competitive in all that I do and I continue to do all three of those in my athletic career now. I push hard because I want to be the best I can be, and I'm learning, from you, that pushing too hard can be detrimental to my health and cause injuries (as we have seen this season). But it's hard. I'm not scared to admit that. Training and competing has been my life for such a long time that when I take breaks, I get lost in who I am, what I'm supposed to do and I can't sleep. 

I think the biggest definer of who I am as a person is being a Christian athlete. Those two words, together or alone, define me to a huge extent. For you though, I am going to focus on the word athlete. As said before I push hard and I'm stubborn, but I see it as being determined and having passion for everything I do. I wouldn't have made it through 4 years of high school swimming and 4 years of collegiate swimming if I didn't have the passion for the sport. I was determined, and so I would be peppy and awake for 5:30am practice, I'd put in extra work and although I was a middle distance swimmer, I knew I needed the endurance so I'd swim with the distance swimmers most days of the week. I fought my coach for what I thought and knew I needed and he'd push back. It was a push and pull relationship but with figuring it out my senior year, I was able to have the best performances of my life. When my college career ended, I knew swimming would continue with me, however, I needed a new challenge to put my efforts towards and having only competed in 6 sprint triathlons I thought I'd give it a go, again. 

Now my cycling career certainly wasn't great like my swimming career. I hated being on a bike when I was younger and my parents would have to bribe me with mini marshmallows to keep riding when we went on family rides. By being inspired by my sister, I finally bought a road bike and began going on long rides with my dad on the weekends and as many rides as I could fit in during the days while in high school and college. My dad and I would always ride hills, we'd seek them out in the flat land of Ohio, and we'd ride, I grew to love them and am pretty awesome at them. Cycling came easy but since the purchase of Zeke Jr. and training with you, I'm 2mph faster on the bike...which brings me to the next thing you're teaching me. 

I've always been a numbers and speed kind of gal. I want to run consistent mile paces, I want to bike consistent speeds, and I know I can swim a consistent time in any sort of distance, but you are all about heart rate. You get angry or annoyed when I submit a workout where my heart rate is two zones above what it needs to be. For someone who has never trained in her life with a heart rate monitor until I started training with you, I'm frustrated and am trying! Give me time, I'll figure it out, I always do! But I would love for you to come plod next to me, teach me how slow you want me to go! 

Thank you for always responding quickly to my athlete notes, whether be me ranting about something, me being sassy with you, or my knowledge that I didn't do the workout right (or when I did do it right!), you always say something. 

Thank you for always getting me pumped up and calming my nerves for races. I think being a friend helps in that arena, as well, but this season has been rocky but you know exactly what to say to get me pumped and calm me down. You know I overthink things, and you do awesome in making it simple. 

Thank you for giving me tough love but finding the supportive balance. Thank you for telling me you're proud of me and giving me a hug after a race, fist bumping or high-fiving me after a long ride. Although I need to be pushed, I also need support, and you provide that. 

Thank you for only making fun of me a little bit when I have hundreds of stupid questions, that I should probably know the answer to, regarding triathlon. 

Thank you for being my friend. Thank you for being my training partner and letting me come on rides with all the guys, makes me feel like a stud(ette) and pushes me in a great way. 

Thank you for putting up with me. I haven't made it easy on you the last two months, but I wanted to make sure you had the best interest for me and my triathlon career. I have now learned that you do. 

So, thank you Dan, for pestering me for the last several months to have you be my coach. I'm glad I chose you, because I need someone who knows me and can put up with my little bit of crazy, and you certainly do.