While there are many obvious reasons hiring a coach is beneficial, today I came across yet another one. In my slightly depressed and woe-is-me state of mind, my coach called to check up on me. He’s been through it all- the highs, lows, and everything between. He knew exactly the things to say in my time of distress. Among other things, he explained that while it feels like the worst scenario out there, he assured me it was not. He said, in fact, that it’s actually a much better scenario than I’m giving it credit for. Imagine I went out and had a bad race: technical problems, pacing incorrectly, bonking, nutrition issues, etc. I would have beaten myself up over competing poorly, played the “what if” game, and been even more discouraged. Whereas being sick is completely beyond my control and there’s not a single thing I can do to change it or return different results. He also said that by next year we’re gonna get me to the point where I look back on this season and laugh about placing so much weight on a sub 2:30 goal. He wants that to be my training race goal pace. I’ll take it.
Instead of dwelling on the present he’s helping me look to the future and focus on what’s to come.
I’m still bummed and have a hard time talking about the whole situation, but I can’t say enough how much his words helped.
