I feel as though I haven’t written a lot about coaching on this space, which is odd, because I’ve been officially coaching athletes for almost two full years now. I believe I have been swim coaching for longer, but I can’t quite remember which happened first. In any event, I know everything there is to know now, byeee.
Just kidding.
I still feel like a rookie coach in some ways (so. much. data.) but in other ways I feel like I’ve been doing this my whole life (yes, you can ugly cry to me about your race). I’ve grown as a coach and I’m really thankful to have met so many awesome coaches along my journey. From my first days using a coach with Coach EK, to my first tri coach, Coach Navy Steve, and then on to my Tribal coaches Mason, Jon, and Nick. And of course I’d be remiss not to mention my buddies at RunVie and my swim coaches. I’ve learned a few things from all of them and a lot of things from a few of them. (Wasn’t that so Bilbo Baggins?)
The thing about coaching that I’ve seen the most is that while everyone wants someone to help hold them accountable, sometimes all an athlete really needs is an ear and/or a kick in the butt. I feel that with my struggles on the mental side of racing I’m in a good position to help those who struggle there as well. What’s that you say? You got problems? Oh honey, come sit next to me. I’ll tell you a few tales… Ha!
Speaking of which, I did get the opportunity to meet authors of The Brave Athlete: Calm the F*ck Down and Rise to the Occassion and boy were they impressive. In fact, at one point while reading the book I thought, are these people in my head!? I want to do a full recap on this book with my takeaways as soon as I finish it. With the holiday whirlwind I haven’t quite gotten there yet, but I promise I will write one. in the meantime, go get the book. And then we can have a coffee talk. You know, me, you, coffee, no big whoop. (SNL reference, anyone?)
My journey as an athlete still continues but I feel that coaching has helped in that regard too. I know I can’t give up out there when I’m on the other side telling my people not to give up. But I do try to keep it real with everyone, as you may well know from reading this. I’m also only human and I think one of the things my athletes like about me is that I’m not perfect. I mean, at least I think they like that. Ha!
I need more hours in the day to read more and research more on the aspects of coaching I love…and the aspects I could use some work in. If you have any book recommendations, I’m all ears! And if you have any questions about coaching, don’t hesitate to reach out. I know there are a lot of folks entering the coaching game and I welcome them. There shouldn’t be a limit on how many folks out there wanting to help others! (The ones who go in it for the wrong reasons won’t last anyway.)
I hope you all had awesome Thanksgivings! Back to the grind tomorrow so get some sleep. Coach’s orders.
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