Run With Sheri

I love Alysa Liu’s comeback story as it really epitomizes how owning your purpose in sport and having many facets to your identity make you the best version of yourself. When Alysa was younger she was thrust into skating without knowing her “why” and she had no other pieces to her identity. She was Alysa, the skater, who was isolated from society and her “purpose “ for skating was to win. Does this sound familiar runner friends?

You don’t need to be away at competitions all the time to be isolated; if you are not present when you are with family and friends, skipping opportunities to be with others all the time because it will affect your running, you indeed are isolated. And as discussed, time and time again, “to win” or “to BQ” or “to get XYZ time goal” is not a purpose, it’s a goal. And goals are sustainable for a short time but are not sustainable for long durations of time and will not give you longevity in the sport you love.

So Alysa retired because her goal to win wasn’t sustainable to stay in love with skating. During that time she searched for other parts her identity outside skating. Alysa did this by doing other fun things with her friends as she enjoys connecting with others like going to concerts, staying up late to have a bonfire, climbing mountains and skiing (these are the few things she mentions in interviews I’m sure there are many more). During this time of exploring she not only had other things in life outside of skating that brought her joy but she began to understand her purpose. Eventually she wants to come back to skating because now she understands her “why” and although she never straight up states this in an interview one can read between the lines. Skating challenges her in a way that no other sport or life endeavor does, she enjoys that challenge. Skating allows her to be her true creative self and tell a story on ice through her skating and feeling that energy as a crowd understands her story feeds her soul. And all the sudden, she is back and now unstoppable. As they stated in her last skating performance, she did not care if she got a medal. She cared about showing the world what she is capable of and sharing her art through skating. That purpose ultimately allowed her to skate relaxed because her purpose has nothing to do with winning; if she conveys her story through skating, she has won in her eyes. And because she skates so relaxed and with joy, low and behold, she wins gold.

Similar to running, if you run for a greater purpose, you will run relaxed and with joy and if you never get your “gold medal” you will still feel so satisfied with what you do because running is another extension of who you are and how you show up in this world. And that’s how sports can change your life.

Interested in seeing how running can change your life? PM me as I would love to work with you! , , , , , , www.rws-endurance.com

Approximately a year ago I was going to meet at a sushi restaurant to discuss how we could become involved with Young Men’s Service League. She saw the 26.2 sticker on my car and said that she was a closet want to be runner. She ran a half the year before and it just about killed her. Yet, she was determined to bucket list a marathon as she wanted to prove that her MS diagnosis was not going to hold her back.

Not able to run a mile without run/walking she was cautiously optimistic about hiring me to coach her. She thought that someone like her wasn’t worthy of having a coach. I promised her that all runners are worthy of having a run coach and we should get moving stat because we only had 12 weeks before her marathon. Run/walk for an hour turned into running non stop for hours on end. After she completed her first marathon she was hooked. So hooked that she decided to sign up for MS Runs The US race where she has to raise 10k and run 183 miles from Colorado to Nebraska in 7 days.

We trained all winter, battled doubts that crept in and adjust for illness during training. On race day she remained calm, trusted her training, fueling and pacing strategy and put up the performance of a life time by finishing her 183rd mile as her fastest mile of the whole event. She went from 13.1 miles crushing her soul 2 years ago to destroying 183 miles over the course of 7 days. I couldn’t be more proud of her!

Maybe you aren’t someone who wants to run an epic ultra but maybe you are someone who wants support and guidance while training and someone who will dream the big dreams with you and help you navigate that journey. Or maybe you are someone who wants running to transform your life. Whatever your goals are, I would be honored to be the one to guide you on your journey. PM me for details. Www.rws-endurance.com

When you choose to train for a PR attempt does it mean you fail if you don’t hit your PR? In our society we are taught that the answer to that question is yes. If we have objective measures, that is how we determine our achievement. I used to believe this too as I’ve always liked obvious answers. But in my years of training and coaching I’ve learned that objective answers do not tell the whole story.

I believe that as we set these big goals they are there for the purpose of helping us change what we do in our everyday lives to give us the opportunity to achieve our goal. This is true with any athletic endeavor, school or professional career. If in pursuit of our goal we run more days, do more speed work, strength train, clean up our diet, prioritize recovery or add yoga over course of 14-20 weeks, regardless if we hit our goal we have won. We have proven that we can do more, we can utilize tools around us to be better and never give up. Whether we hit that PR or not, we have new tools in our toolbox we can utilize forever. That is way more useful than any PR, straight A report card or promotion at work.

This last weekend I set out to try and PR the half marathon. I was not nervous going into the race nor did I have any clue if it would happen or not. But I knew I put in the work and I know how to race a half marathon based on my abilities on that day, on that course with that weather. No PR for me which didn’t bother me in the slightest because I knew I gave it my all. And I’ll continue to train to PR because I love the process of pushing myself and seeing where it all leads.

And if you are interested in seeing how you can transform your mindset around goals and achievements, pm me as I would love to work with you.

Three years ago I started to work with Durai. He came to me lost in his battle of letting times define his identity as a runner. He was a prior sub 2 half marathoner and chasing his dream of a sub 4 marathon. As he continued his chase before working with me, he developed race anxiety, a loss of love for the sport and ultimately his race times were taking giant hits. Gone were the days of sub 2 half’s and marathons sounded down right horrible to him. We spent years working on his mindset and his relationship with the sport. He battled injury through some recent training cycles too which makes one’s relationship with the sport of running that much harder.

But this past training cycle for Tokyo marathon everything started to click. His training was smooth, he was getting stronger and faster and no more race anxiety! He was loving the journey no matter what the paces said or dictated. When I had to give the bad news that he needed to adjust his Tokyo marathon pacing due to the heat predicted, he just said, done! He knew that although he wouldn’t be able to let his fitness shine in this race his day would come. And if it didn’t, he still had a blast challenging himself in the sport he loves.

Luckily the stars aligned for a local half marathon he signed up for 9 weeks post marathon.
We had our pre race call and discussed how to pace this race. We discussed numbers but most importantly we discussed the mind and body connection. I told him let the numbers be information, your body is your guide.

After many years of chasing PRs it took him relaxing about the process and loving his journey to hit his half marathon PR by 45 seconds. A PR which stood since 2018.

Race anxiety is real. Getting sucked into time goals being your identity is real. But you can over come all these odds and love your journey if you have the right tools and guide to help you.

If you are looking for that edge in your running career, reach out as I would love to Coach you through your personal journey.

Www.rws-endurance.com

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I’ve spent time in other posts talking about how goals should align with your purpose so I’m going to share a goal of mine with you for this next training block. One of my goals is to rotate through 3 different pairs and types of running shoes each week. How does this align with my purpose? Curiosity and knowledge are core values of mine so this fits in quite nicely.

Why do I want to try this? Studies show that switching between various types of shoes can help prevent injury by promoting different muscle groups to kick in and ultimately cause those muscles to get stronger. Also, the foam in running shoes generally needs 24/48 hours to decompress and get back to original form ultimately helping you to have the proper support you are paying for and giving your shoes more longevity.

For my easy / recovery run days I’ll be using the ASICS Novablast which is a trainer. For my speed days I’ll be using the Saucony Elite which is also my racing shoe. (Which version 2 is currently on sale). And for my long run days and runs with strides I’ll be using the Saucony Speed which is almost a cross between a racing shoe and a trainer.

I’m hoping that rotating my shoes will keep my feet and legs more fresh and allow me to keep my shoes longer in a training cycle. And having different shoes brings an element a fun each time you lace up. Do you rotate your shoes? What’s your go to shoe?

The other day I was shopping with a friend and we came across an isle with all kinds of candles. One of the shelves had candles with beautiful sayings on them and this particular one spoke to me, “trust your journey”.

How many times have you been knocked down, came across a challenge and felt beyond frustrated? Maybe you even start to compare your life to others and then you get lost down a rabbit hole of why me? What if you were to pause during all that discomfort, take a step back and look at your situation in a new way. Maybe what is happening to you is actually happening for you. Of course there are extenuating circumstances where you can’t use this but I’m not taking about the deaths, disease and the inappropriate situations. I’m taking about the injuries when in a training cycle, the illnesses, the close friend or person you are dating/ married to who suddenly no longer talks to you as much, the pay cut at your job or the lack of promotion you feel you have earned. These situations feel so horrible in the moment and are so easy to bring you down. But with every negative emotion you feel there is a door that opens for you to walk through. Maybe the injury gives you an opportunity to cross train or spend more time on a different hobby for a bit. Or you have opportunities to meet new people and connect on a deeper level. Or you get your resume out there and see if your dream job awaits? For every door that closes a new one is waiting to be opened as long as you are brave enough to walk through that door. Your journey has blank pages ahead; you get to determine the next chapter. What are the doors you have walked through that you otherwise wouldn’t have? What are the challenges you continue to persist through?

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Do you ever have days that you wake up and don’t feel 100%? Not because you are over worked or battling illness/injury. Maybe you got bad sleep for one night, ate something that didn’t agree with you or there may be no reason at all. You just know you are not operating to your fullest for that day.

What do you do if that’s on a run day? Or worse, a speed work out day? Or even worse, on race day? There really isn’t much you can do about changing the way your body feels but you can change your perception of the situation. This happened to me this week for my speed workout day. I knew in the morning I only had about 60-70% in my tank. So what did I do? I took a page out on the book, “Inner Excellence “. You know the book Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown was reading on the side lines at the Super Bowl? In this book, Jim Murphy talks about giving 100% of all you have that day. So if on that day you only have 60%, you still give 100% of that 60%. This resonates with my core value of determination which is one of my purposes for running. A determined person will accept the hand they are dealt and play the best hand possible with those cards and not be wishing they had a different hand. So as I went into the 15 interval workout that day I gave all I had even though I was not at 100% because that’s the way I like to show up in this world as a runner and as a person. And to my surprise, because I had no expectations, I still progressed and got stronger each interval. All because of my mindset going in.
Having a strong sense of purpose can help you change the way you approach every day challenges. What core value or purpose did you lean on this week?

When you set running goals is your worth or success as a runner dependent on outcome goals? So many runner fall into the trap of letting their outcome goals define their performance and who they are as a runner. But how many times in life have you allowed outcome goals to drive you and once you achieve that goal you feel empty? I can say from experience that I’ve fallen trap to the arrival fallacy and frankly it just doesn’t feel as good to reach that goal as I ever dreamed it would. When I decided to used outcome goals to allow myself to change how I approach a training cycle and use process goals as a way to measure my success, I was truly able to enjoy my journey and use running as a tool to change my mindset. Once you have created a new mindset in one area of life it becomes easier to have that transcend to all areas of your life. So back on March 2nd when I achieved my goal of qualifying for Boston at all the 6 marathon majors and ultimately receiving my 6 star medal I had tears in my eyes. I reflected on the amazing 8 year journey I took to arrive at that moment and all the beautiful lessons I learned along the way. Instead of feeling empty and thinking, “now what?” I was able to feel at peace and excitement about all the new adventures that await through running.

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Have you ever thought about picking up the sport of running to help you with your approach to every day life? I'm not talking about the fact that running burns calories, builds muscle or may give you a dopamine hit. I'm talking about learning how to tolerate discomfort and the act of avoidance.

How many things in your life do you avoid because it feels uncomfortable? That phone call with a friend or family? That social outing with tons of people you don't know? That request for vacation time or a raise from your boss? Or even as simple as creating personal boundaries and sticking to those boundaries after others are disappointed with your choices but yet they are the right choice for you?

If you choose to run and train for races to learn how to get comfortable being uncomfortable you can utilize all of the mental strategies learned during training and apply them to your every day life. Will this make uncomfortable situations all the sudden comfortable? Heck no. Just like training for a marathon properly doesn't mean that the marathon all the sudden feels easy. But you will understand mentally how to break down that discomfort and not let it own you.

So next time it's not optimal weather, the timing isn't perfect or the workout / run seems too hard, don't avoid the challenge ahead, embrace it. Regardless if you succeed or struggle, you can't learn unless you show up. And if you are interested in learning how to train properly physically and mentally for your upcoming race, I would be honored to work with you.

Www.rws-endurance.com

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This is an update on the RWS Athlete, Jessie. As you may remember, Jessie hit her big 5 min marathon PR last November at Indy Marathon in which she was only 6 minutes away from a BQ since she is turning 40 this year. So we decided to buckle up and go after that BQ.

I know what you are thinking, we must have been running crazy volume, 5 to 6 days a week right? Nope! Jessie got her BQ and an additional 8+ minute PR at this past weekend off of 4 days of running.

Yes, one needs a large aerobic capacity to be able to run a marathon well as well as a musculoskeletal system that can withstand the duration of the race. However, this doesn't all need to happen in one training cycle. I've been working with Jessie for 6 years now and every training cycle we have we make all of these systems stronger. It's like laying the bricks to make a beautiful home every training cycle.

Also, we have done higher volume training cycles off of 5 days of running in the past. Frankly, she was struggling to recover properly from all of that training in addition to being a mom of two young children, a teacher, a wife and a friend.

Stop asking yourself the question, "How much more can I cram into my schedule" and start asking yourself, "Can I recover from all I want to do?" And if you are unsure how to appropriately do this and are looking for someone to help you lay out your plan to train to your best ability, I would be honored to be your coach.

Big time congratulations Jessie! Next up, Hopkinton!

Www.rws-endurance.com

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