Dear Coach,
I've been wanting to write this for awhile now, and I just didn't know how to phrase the things I wanted to say. Like my last post to you, I wanted to say thank you. I wanted to say thank you because a lot of times my gratitude for what you do for me is lost behind my stubbornness, my injuries and my exhaustion for workouts. This time around though I wanted to thank you for being patient as I adapt to new workout structure, new HR zones and a new form of trust.
I think in order for a relationship to work you have to have immense trust and great communication with that person. The same goes for being in a coach and athlete scenario. First off, the athlete has to trust the process. As you have heard and read, this has been hard for me. Trusting the process which is totally different than the process I had been training on for a year, is hard and frustrating. I didn't understand why you wanted me to run so slowly that I could walk faster. I didn't understand why I couldn't ride side by side with you on a long ride. I didn't understand a lot of things and for that reason, I was really unhappy. But, like a great coach, you began the process of teaching me the methods you believe and coach by, making it easier for me to understand the concepts behind slow running and not riding with the best training partner I've had (I'm still not exactly pleased about that). For you, it's about the HR and the effort you are putting in, not about the pace, and I've learned that if I stick with the HR, the speed will come. So, thank you for communicating with me about the process and keeping me accountable through it, even when I have ridiculous off the chart workouts...
The second part about trust is trusting your coach to know what is best for the athlete both in training and in how your body works. (For everyone who is reading this, you need to know what a phenomenal job Dan does of this). Back in the first month of us working together you pushed me and pushed me to go see Lori Strobl and get my knee fixed. You raved and raved about how spectacular she was and how I needed to go. So I went, and now, months later, I am running free of pain. When I had Achilles pain, you stopped me and we worked out what the pain could be and now I am pain free. Most recently, I had my wisdom teeth out and I have spent four days, as of right now, without anything training wise and you tell me we need to focus on me eating my regular diet and getting full mobility of my jaw back (because I can't open my mouth fully), before I started training anymore. Do I like this response, after I have been cooped up and snowed in to my house for the past four days? Hell no. However, you have yet to lead me astray in my world of injuries. Even though my mouth has nothing to do with workouts, it is still leaving my body in a compromised state and as I know from you, my health is my #1 priority So, I am listening to you and going to focus on my swollen cheek and stiff jaw (but I will still call my Dentist tomorrow morning).
Another part of this trust is sticking to the plan. As you know sometimes I "disregard" the workouts you have written for me, not because I don't feel like doing them, but because...I don't know. Honestly, I don't know the answer to that. In the pool I do it because I want to keep up and my swimmer mentality has trained me that if I do poorly in practice, I'll get bumped from that relay (which happened on a National qualifying relay). I push hard in swimming because that's what I know. In biking and running its gotten better. You've drilled it through my head enough times to know that I need to and when I see my heart rate spike in the slightest amount of see my cadence as being really slow, I'm scared I'm going to disappoint you. And, there is one thing I hate more than disappointing myself, and it's disappointing others.
So, Dan thank you. Thank you for being patient and for teaching me and for sending me those tough love e-mails and texts that scare me into doing what you have written. I'm seeing progress and improvement, although small. I now trust you and your process completely in my triathlon journey. That doesn't mean I'll stop asking you dumb questions, but it means I'll be less stubborn and less hard-headed. I'll put in the work because I know you've got my back.
I will say the one thing I hope we can communicate about my goals and how I truly am going to get down to running 8:00 miles or so. I want to talk to you about my fears and concerns because once you hear them I think you'll have a better understanding of why I push and have that competitiveness.
Thank you for continuing to put up with me and push me and motivate me. You as a coach and athlete inspire me to do great things in my triathlon career.
Thanks, coach!
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