Spring Meeting with Coach McCoy

Hmmmm!

 A couple of weeks ago my coach offered up OPTIONAL office hours for our quarterly meeting.  I jumped at the chance for this OPTIONAL meeting. I didn’t think it was OPTIONAL at all. If I have time that I can spend with my coach talking about my training…I’m taking that any time I can get it.

This meeting was MUCH different than the other meetings I’ve had with my coach. The meeting was more relaxed and not just about the next event, or even this year. My first meeting with her was way different, much more specific more about each of us learning each other. My second meeting was focused on the A race last year, and very specific and kinda full of anxiety/excitement/wonder. This meeting was way more relaxed…I took less notes, but I still remember most of our conversation.

We discussed the race this weekend, and I think she might have been pleasantly surprised when I told her that I wasn’t stressing about this weekend’s half marathon.  She asked why? I’m confident, and the 1:44:59 goal isn’t defining me. Last October, the 2:00:00 goal defined that day. This week, I’m confident I’ll set a personal record, and I’m not stressing over it. Coach simply said, “You’re a different athlete.”

We touched on some stuff for this weekend, but then quickly moved on to general training. We talked about swimming and how I disliked getting up at 5:00 to swim…but that is because I don’t sleep enough. We agreed that she’d give me a workout to do for my swim, but if I made it to Master’s Swim…Great. We talked about the bike. Oh how I love the bike. We talked about the improvements that were made over the winter months and the ramifications of those improvements. Short version: I’ll be chasing a new pack! We talked about the run. Oh, the run…

Going into this weekend with FEARLESS BELIEF!

Up until about 2 weeks ago, I was feeling slow…very slow.  I had set this goal of running this weekend’s half marathon with 8 min miles.  I was sure as sure can be that I was nowhere near being able to hold that pace for 13.1 miles. However, I went back to last Octobers training and looked at my times for 800’s and 400’s and I have improved by over 1 minute on my 800’s. I also have had some decent tempo runs in the last month that gave me renewed confidence. I no longer question if I am as strong as I was in October. I’m heading into this race with confidence.


We talked about nutrition and sleep which will be a focus for me over the next couple of months. I want to get to my racing weight. If I want the optimum performance from this body, I really need to get rid of about 20 pounds that I carry with me daily. May is a focus on this.

We talked about races for this year, but spent a few minutes talking about my “A” race:  Rev3 Cedar Point. We talked about the goals and what she wants me to “CRUSH”.

She even approved anything with Chocolate and Peanut Butter (it was my birthday, so I took her a cupcake that Tricia made me). I took this as approval to buy out Giant Eagle’s Reese Cup supply and use that as nutrition….NOT!

Being part of JustTri is a wonderful experience. Training for endurance events with teammates is much easier, being led by such a great coach is awesome, the accountability keeps me going…but the support that Coach Carrie McCoy gives each of her athletes is like she is only coaching you! Thanks Coach!