Tag: coaching

gazinta swim

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Daughter decorated swim workout My morning swim workout was joyfully improved by my 10 year old daughter.

Each time I reach the wall, I look at my handy workout scrap of paper to see what’s next. This is what I saw today.  Hannah had embellished. I smiled each time.

It wasn’t just that these little guys (called “gazintas”) are cute.  It was the amount of love that she had poured into the making of them and onto the piece of paper. Being a working parent and a triathlete means there’s a lot to balance.  There are trade-offs.  There are moments of guilt – for missing breakfasts and not having enough time to do her hair the way she likes it every morning.

These “gazintas” are a new at our house.  We created them to add fun to long division. (yes, “fun” & “long division” in the same sentence) We use them to figure out  how many times 7 gazinta (goes into) 35, etc.  But now there’s gazintas on my swim workout .  And what have I figured out?  There’s much love that gazinta me and my workouts from my family.  Every time they’re ok with me doing what I love – their love gazinta me.

I couldn’t do all of this without my family’s support and I can’t tell you just how lucky I feel to have it.

My coach – preview

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whistle“There is hardly anything you can’t do if you have, and you nurture, the proper support systems.  Don’t lower the goal, increase your support.” ~Jim Hayhurst Sr

I have my new, big goal – competing strongly at the 2014 USA Triathlon Age Group National Championships – Olympic Distance. Now I need to increase my support and hire the right coach to help me achieve my goal. I’ve connected with Kelsey Abbot and finally returned my Athlete History form to her (after stalling for weeks). I sent her my goals, yesterday, and here’s her awesome response:

“I think top 25/worlds’ qualifier at nationals is awesomely outrageous–a challenge obviously, but if a human being can go from a couple cells to a human-like clump of cells to cells that function to cells that function on their own in 9 months and 1 week, then dammit, you can drop a chunk of time for an olympic in the same amount of time. I can work with you if you can accept the following: 1.) every race is different so times may or may not be comparable and 2) we can’t control where you end up placing because we can’t control how other people do, but we can turn you into a superhero.”

“1.) every race is different so times may or may not be comparable” – Yes, I’m flexible in my mindset to allow for the surprise uphill swim, random summer blizzard, or sneaky ninja ambushes. These races may not give me a PR, but they certainly make for great stories.
“2) we can’t control where you end up placing because we can’t control how other people do, but we can turn you into a superhero.”- YES!  This is a VERY important to me – because I’m not really motivated by besting other people. I am VERY good at focusing on my own goals and running my own race. It makes me feel smarter on race day to follow my plan. If I meet my time goal and don’t wind up placing well, I rarely care. (OK, If it’s close, then I do replay the day over & over and second guess everything for a few days.)

I don’t know if you watched the World Series, but here’s my analogy…In game 1, David Ortiz hit a grand slam home run.  Carlos Beltran reached over the wall and into the bullpen and caught the ball outside of the park. So, the result wasn’t a home run and David Ortiz still hit a home run.  My goal is to hit the home run.

Yup, I found the right coach for me.

updated: my coach is this awesome! Click here to see a picture of Kelsey winning 2013 Rev3 Venice Olympic Distance.

Step 1. Commit

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commit buttonI’m an advocate of thoughtful goal setting & planning.

Everyday I work with business  leaders to help them identify and develop meaningful and achievable goals.   This is the core of my  professional success.  I know this like I know the sun will come up later this morning.

And yet…here I am (again).  I’ve started another massive challenge just by clicking on a submit button.  Before giving myself the chance to think through the goal, potential plans to reach my goal, or even what the first step might be, I have committed.   I have “taken a flyer.”  I am now registered for the 2014 USA Triathlon National Championships – Olympic Distance.

It’s not the first time.  I have no doubt that it won’t be the last.  And I am even more sure that at some point during this challenge I will utter my signature phrase, “it seemed like a good idea at the time.”

I don’t advocate “the flyer” with my clients, but it’s often an effective way for me to start a new personal challenge.  As a thinker, it moves me into action without the distraction of research, analysis, deliberation, etc.  It’s a move from the gut with a lot of faith that the details will come together once I’ve made the commitment.

inTent is where I will capture and share my experiences of all of the elements related to taking on this bold/audacious goal.  Welcome to the tent.