How a Coach Is Benefitting My Running
After my last marathon, I finally gave in to one of my friend’s requests: to have her as my running coach.
For the last two years ever since graduating college, I’ve been an independent runner. I’ve been more of a hobby jogger. I do whatever I want as a runner, and I run on days I feel like, and don’t run on days I don’t feel like. On my easy runs, it sometimes looks like I’m barely moving my feet at a 9-minute or 10-minute mile pace. I do workouts sometimes whenever I feel like it.
I will admit I’m largely a follower when it comes to running. I strongly dislike running alone. I don’t like it when I have to trot out in the cold and wind to run 12 miles by myself, so I often just do whatever workout a friend had by design.
But now that I have a coach, I won’t say my training is better or worse than it was before. I will say it’s more structured, and I’m more likely to go out to run when I don’t feel like it.
My coach is faster than me, and she’s a very experienced runner. She has written a couple of workouts so far but I am still recovering from my last marathon. She’s also coaching me for free and because she wants to see me get better, so I luck out of having to pay for a coach.
What I love about having a coach is it keeps me accountable. I’m forced to take my training more seriously because I have someone to answer to.
I had to tell my coach all about my running goals and aspirations. And I’m someone who hasn’t thought of my goals and aspirations in years — I just run. I prefer a certain lack of structure in some areas, but in other areas, it’s incredibly helpful to have a second eye. Some workouts or activities I engage in as a runner are just dumb. I once ran 39.6 miles in one weekend — a 24-mile run followed by a 15.6 mile run the next day. `
Some to answer and be accountable to would not allow me to do that. I will also train more responsibly. Running 39.6 miles in two days took me at least a week of easy running to recover. The reason I feel so terribly on my easy runs, my friends tell me, is because I design such grandiose workouts for myself. While I know to hold back now better than I did before, it’s…
