2018 CLA Team Successes!

It is so easy to get so bogged down in the day to day grind of life that often we forget why we are doing some of the things we are doing. We all do it!

I was reminded of this while frantically trying to get all my end of year required coaching training done. I was listening to a coaching seminar where the keynote speaker, Chrissie Wellington (a world champion triathlete), was talking about her regrets. Her biggest regret was not slowing down enough to celebrating her successes. She challenged us as coaches to remember to celebrate our own successes and to make sure that we celebrate the successes of our athletes.

I thought a lot about this after the seminar was over. I always love to acknowledge everyone’s successes and try to make sure an highlight them through the year but many often get missed unintentionally. More than this though, the talk made me really wonder what each member of the CLA team considered success for themselves in 2018. As many of you know I sent out an e-mail asking this question and it has been fun to see the results and I want to make sure to share with the team. This list is by no means complete as we got some responses late. If you have successes you’d like to share, please send them along!  

The beauty of this shout out is that everyone’s successes are different and reflect all of our journeys. I hope to inspire you all to continue building on these successes in 2019 AND share with pride what you learn and accomplish. It truly is inspiring and humbling. 

Give a Cheer!

Sherry reports:

• I completed my longest tri and felt great
• I have had fun and enjoyed my training
• I had some injuries but I listened to my body and let it heal.

I love this list because any one of these items is something to be proud of but Sherry has learned a lot, done a lot and is set up to have a great 2019. Ironman here you come! Keep it up Sherry!  

Carol:

• I hired a coach for the first time because I wasn’t training for a half marathon my son had signed me up for. My son and I just ran together to complete the Seattle Half Marathon.
• I recovered splendidly from an injury! My ankle tendons weren’t used to running. They’re strong now.
• I got fatigued for no reason before I started training. Getting fatigued from running was expected but it made sense to me to keep doing it. I took lots of naps. Now I can easily do things most pedestrians can, like walking hills to bus stops and light rail, or walking hills to the municipal building, for example. And it actually feels good.
• I finally got the right shoes and clothes.

I love that Carol is realizing that overall activity makes a difference as does proper gear!

Jeff B didn’t let an injury derail his plans and smartly managed injury and still made it to his goal races.

• Just making it to the starting line of IMBZ with a foot stress fracture 12 weeks out. Finishing IMBZ.
• First Ironman Age Group Top 20.
• PR Ironman Bike split at IMFL.
• With hard training finishing my first Beer Mile.

Way to go Jeff! So proud of you and how smart you were in following a plan to get you to the race.  

Tara:

• Finished longest race distance ever (50 miles!) in freezing temps
• Learned to eat solid food while running
• Had a clear race plan and stuck to it and ran a PR marathon

All of these set Tara of for a great 2019 and we are excited to see what is in store for you!

Jen R:

• Success in having a coach and following a plan - even the strength training!
• No big PRs this year due to life happening but success in that I performed well in competitive cross-country races, and can still pull off a sub-7 mile.
• Very happy with Regionals a few weeks back performing better than I expected!
• Winning my age group at Run For the Pies-another very competitive race.

Well done Jen! The year-long consistency with running and strength training will bring even better successes in 2019 and we can’t wait to see what those are!

Accepting the Challenges

Emma had a big life event in 2018!

• I ran through 37 weeks of pregnancy
• I hiked while pregnant and then with baby
• AND i had a baby!  

Emma kept her fitness during pregnancy but really paid attention to her body and adjusted as needed. She embraced those changes even! And when she has been coming back, she started a bit too fast but asked for help right away and has been faithfully doing strength work, cross-training and a slow build even though she just wants to be back to running! Accepting the challenges also means you accept where you are on any given day.

Jen G’s goals were derailed by injury. She explains:

• I was honest with myself about contributing factors to my injury (lack of consistency with strength training and diet) and made changes to stick to a plan
• I kept to the schedule even when injured and my recovery was quicker than it has been in the past
• I introduced spin class into my routine to help with my conditioning

Jen G demonstrated great courage in understanding what contributed to injury and used the injury as a a wake-up call to make some changes and to learn. It’s always disappointing to deal with injury but making the most of injury builds a better athlete in the long run (pun intended here!

Consistency Pays Big Rewards

Leslie reminds us that the choices you make don’t have to be big ones. She says:

• Success was finding a way back to running during a difficult year - by listening to my coach and believing that doing 1% better each was enough of a goal.
• A second success was going outside my comfort zone and signing up for a fun run.

We can all aim to do 1% better every day and we can all work to step outside our own comfort zones.

Linda M demonstrates to us that you can make a difference in YOU  every single day!

• Incorporated strength training in my weekly plan so that I actually do the work outs and really doing the glute exercises, which have really made a difference.
• Finally, allowing myself to make incremental progress and believing that my daily work will get me where I need to be.
• Really getting enough sleep!!  (I can't believe how difficult it was to make this happen.)
  

Congrats Linda! Most people like to believe that big workouts make a big difference. Really, small changes made deliberately every day make the biggest changes that last the longest. And I LOVE the goal of getting enough sleep! It’s something everyone struggles with and making it a priority can make a huge difference.

Kristen J put in a lot of work and it shows. She had a fantastic year! She explains:

• My #1 success this year of course is meeting my 1009 mile goal but what sweetened the deal was accomplishing it a month early! Having an annual mileage goal has been one of the best things for me because it taught me to plan ahead, modification is ok, running with buddies is important to succeeding and consistency week to week essentially eliminated injuries for me.
• My #2 success has been cross training again. For the longest time I’ve been making excuses as to why I don’t have time and now that I am [cross training], I can see the benefits. I’m back on the Peloton, going for walks with my husband and strength training has been really, really good.
• I can do real push ups again.
• I ran a negative split half marathon this year.
• I’ve learned the perfect combo for fueling depending on length of run.
• I’ve learned how to run with a dog that’s new to running.
• I’ve been stretching more and I can touch my toes again.

I am thrilled for Kristen and the realizations she has had in 2018! This sets her up for a fantastic 2019. Little steps add up to many, many accomplishments.

And since the 2018 CLA Team Challenge was a big success last year, we’ll be offering a version of it again this year. Stay tuned! 

The Unexpected

Anthony says “My top 1 success in 2018 is my failed marathon.” And he used this failure as a catalyst to make changes.

• It made me realize that my previous marathon (in 2005, 3h59) was not "something easy that anybody can do": it was a performance and I should be proud of it! Never too late to celebrate.
• I don't like to fail, so I had no other choice than preparing more seriously for another marathon in 2019... and probably many more in the future.

Anthony took a disappointment and has turned it around! And congrats on that 2005 marathon 14 years late. Here’s to 2019!

Scott B was in a bike crash early in the year and broke two ribs, a collar bone, but most unexpectedly the doctors found an aneurysm. He was able to continue training once healed from the bike crash. In May, the aneurysm had grown.

From Scott:
“Top of list would be the recovery from open heart surgery for an aortic aneurysm and new aortic valve for stenosis. During the surgery the doctors were shocked that I could run at all. I now have Gortex on the inside (aorta replacement) and a pig valve. Recovery was truly unbelievable to the doctors that I returned to work 3.5 weeks after surgery and was doing the grandpa shuffle at the 3 week mark. The continued training and my health provided me with the ability to heal quickly and return to the training. I have recovered 1 min/mile of the lost pace. Still have a ways to go but ran my first race at Thanksgiving, and preparing for 204 mile adventure relay in the spring (on a 12 person team). Hopefully then a Olympic Tri 2 weeks later.”

WOW!  This is still the first word that comes to mind when I think of Scott. In the several years we have been working together Scott has done some amazing events, juggled a tough schedule, taken time to really enjoy family and had some significant setbacks yet Scott always shows up to do his best. He misses workouts here and there, he modifies as he needs but I know he gives it whatever he can. I too was in awe along with his doctors at all he was able to do before and how well he is coming back after his surgery. I can’t wait for a GREAT 2019 Scott! Cheers to you!

When Life Throws you Lemons

And with this exercise, it is natural that I have been asked about what my successes for 2018 were. There were a few fun goal events, there were setbacks and lessons learned but at the end of it all, what did I consider my biggest successes?

It would be simple to say my biggest success of 2018 was finishing my first ever 100 mile trail race! It was amazing!! Much like my first Ironman, I know it will stay with me for a long time.

One of my best lessons and thus successes this year was accepting some of the challenges that were thrown at me and forced me to approach my training a whole different way. Travel with my family, a ruptured plantar,  other health issues and wanting to be present for my athletes meant my training had to take a back seat much of the time. I learned to be more flexible with my own training, fitting in what I could when I could. In doing this and in hindsight, I realized this allowed me to pay more attention to my body and my brain each day and make adjustments to training.

In the past I, like many athletes, might have overridden my body to get in that workout because it was on the schedule or because I did not know when else I could do it. In the end, I did have some down time because of the fluke foot injury but I also had some of the best weeks of running I have had in years.

I re-learned the value of cross training. No surprise  to many of you, I love to train but also like many of you I don’t always love to do all the things I should. When I injured my foot my option was to ride my bike. I had not ridden this much since training for Ironman 5 years ago and I had forgotten how much I can enjoy a few mindless hours on the bike on a summer day. The cycling made me stronger and is one of the biggest reasons I was able to come off injury to do the Wonderland Trail and the Tunnel Hill 100 miler.

Underneath this though there are several lessons that I think are even more important.

• Patience
• Emotional resilience

Injury, life and circumstances forced me really evaluate what would let me train and prepare for a 100 miler and make it to the start line. I had to pay attention to my body and do just enough yet not too much. I had to stay positive and focused. And it worked.

It was such a valuable lesson, that I’ll be working on having all my athletes really consider how they can bring patience and emotional resilience into their training. This is just the start! 

On to 2019!

It’s always satisfying to see the huge range of both failures and successes that my athletes have in any one year. I definitely add failures as a valuable lesson. It’s with the failures and challenges that we all learn and make adjustments to achieve those daily successes which add up to great things. I challenge each of you to dream big and take on a challenge that scares you just a little in 2019. Great things can come from it!

If you can’t think of a goal, let me know! I would bet we can come up with something and we’ll be offering some 2019 themed challenges which have running, strength or cross training goals so there will be something for everyone.  

Everyone has something to celebrate and it is such an honor to work with all of you!
Cheers to a great 2019!!!