Talked to the coach

So the running coach called me back. We had a great conversation yesterday afternoon, and I felt really excited. The main problem is going to be making those meeting times regularly. The team meets three times a week, and he said I'd need to come twice a week to make it worth my while. He focusses on middle distances (ie. 5 and 10km), but he has runners who run longer distances too. I figure if I get faster at the 5 or 10km distance it will make me faster at the marathon distance too. I have to get my legs moving faster in order to go faster, no matter my endurance levels.

Mostly, I just felt really excited by the conversation, and by the thought of training with a group. I've never done that. My high school cross country team (of which I was a lame lame member in my last year of high school) had maybe four people on it, and we trained together once or twice and then went to two meets. At which I sucked. Probably because I only trained once or twice. I really don't think that counts.

So I was thinking that this coming year could be all about running. What if I run with a team two or three times a week, with coaching and doing drills? Would I continue to see improvements? It seems likely. When I look at my times and my splits, I've gotten faster over the course of this past year just training all on my own. The team includes a local university's track and cross country team, as well as people like me, ages 14-60. It's not a huge team. I need to just go and try it out. Not this week because the coach is away this week. Maybe next week. They train all year round and actually do a bunch of their training at the park that's just down the street from us, plus at my favourite trails park.

Will I like running with a team? With a group? With coaching? He wasn't terribly impressed by my 10km race time: "There's room for improvement," was his comment. I agree, and I want to be improved! He also doesn't think much of marathoning because it wears a person out so much. I do get what he's saying, because my runs this morning and yesterday evening were both slow and my muscles were achy. It could be a month before I'm fully recovered (if what I've read about recovery is to be believed.) It didn't feel like that extreme of an effort, however, so I hope that recovery time is wrong. The coach pointed out that the recovery time after a 5km or 10km race is much shorter, which I'm sure is true.

Do I have the guts for this? I think so. I'm so excited to get the chance to try. When I was a kid, I dreamed of being a runner and getting coached, and training. But it never happened. I'm not even sure there were coaches who would have trained an eight-year-old kid. By the time I was a teen, and I could have joined track teams and trained harder, I was a lot slower and less energetic, and not very interested anymore. Too many other interests, I guess. Bottom line, I never trained with any kind of regularity or seriousness. And then I kind of forgot about it as an option.

So the idea of never-too-late is pretty exciting. The thirties are prime running years (or can be) for women athletes. And I've gained determination and commitment as I've gotten older. I didn't have that before. I used to be much more afraid of failing, much more of a perfectionist (believe it or not.) That's probably been the biggest change this past decade has brought to me. Being willing to fail, being willing to say, "I don't know what I'm doing," being willing to ask for help. I can thank motherhood for that, alright.

(I was also thinking that training for the triathlon led me back to running. When you set off toward a goal, you just never know where it's going to take you.)