I do my best to practice what I preach with these nuggets of guidance that I tell my runners.
I am an athlete. I am also a coach. I am a runner. And I coach high school cross country and track. Yes, I’m incredibly lucky. My job and my passion are one in the same.
Every year, I make a big effort to get my athletes to trust me. To believe what I am telling them. And to know that I mean what I say primarily because I do what I say. Well, I try to. I’d be lying if I told you that I precisely follow my own coaching advice on a daily basis. And it’s not because I don’t want to. I do. And I should. It’s because I, too, am an athlete and when it comes to competition, my thought process is not much different from theirs.
Despite my efforts, more often than not, my runners are feeling nervous, scared or uncertain on race day.
Relax! I tell them. They try. But also roll their eyes at me. How can I possibly relax right now, Coach?
Get excited, I say. I’m trying, Coach. But I’m also scared shitless. I can’t help it.
Believe in yourself!
You’re ready!
Have fun!
And so on.
And while they hear me and agree with everything I say and try their damndest to believe it, they’re human. And, so am I.
So, yes. When I’m getting ready to race, I go through the same, exact process despite my coaches efforts to remind me of all the things I remind them, which as an older, more seasoned runner (OK, I’m 50.) are really no different for the young, spritely high schoolers. Which is why I am always trying to practice what I preach. Because how can I ask my athletes to trust and believe me if I can’t do it myself?
I’ve been coaching since 2011. Over the years, I have accrued some standard messages that I try to hammer into my athletes every season. I want them to hear these as often as possible until they truly begin to digest them and take them to heart. And every time I stand before them and deliver these lessons, I’m speaking to myself at the same time. Don’t say it if you don’t believe it, right?
Here are the top 10 things I tell my high school runners that I also follow in my own training. I do my best to practice what I preach as much as possible.
I ran my fastest marathon at age 49. The end. Just kidding. Seriously, though, I’ve run in some way since I was about 10 years old. I ran cross country and track in college. I started doing marathons after my children were born in 2007. Over time, I got better. At training and competing. I also got worse. I’ve had injuries—stress fractures, plantar fasciitis and so many other minor issues that aren’t even worth mentioning. I have overtrained. I have undertrained. I have legitimately thrown my running shoes off a cliff. Today, I am 50. I am still training and competing. That’s 40 years of running. There is nothing linear about it.
We set ourselves up with a plan, right? And then our goal is to execute the plan. More often than not, things don’t go as we envision them. But instead of saying, I gave it a shot and I failed, we hear ourselves saying I just don’t think I had it in me today. If we don’t at least give it a shot, we’re failing to try. You can’t know if you don’t try.
Very rarely does a race go perfectly. When it does, it’s wonderful. When it doesn’t, we learn. We’re also probably annoyed, angry or sad. But there is something good in every race and it’s critical that you find that. Regardless of how it went, I challenge all my athletes to find the good in every experience. Then on my own race day, when I don’t accomplish my goal, which, again, is rare, I do my damndest to do the same.
Everything adds up. We know this and yet sometimes we don’t take advantage of it. Are you eating right? Are you sleeping well? Are you stretching? Foam rolling? Doing strides? Doing core strength work? Are you visualizing your race? Packing your race bag the night before so you’re ready in the morning? For every thing we do, there are 10 more things we could also be doing. They all make us better. Do them.
We train for weeks, months, years. In the beginning of a season or of a training cycle, we start off rusty. The work feels harder than it should. Maybe we don’t see results in practice in early races. We have to have a process mindset and trust that there is a method to the madness. Believe in what we’re doing. Focus on the day to day. And know that when it matters most, the work will pay off.
If you get on the line for a race or get on the track for a workout and you are scared or dreading it or worried and you have nothing in your mind that you are excited about you might as well call it. If your mind is negative your body will react in the same way. Find a way to be excited every time you do the work.
Nothing is set in stone. Just because someone has beaten you in the last race doesn’t mean they’ll beat you again the next time you line up next to them. They could be sick, they could be stressed, they could have gotten in a fight with their brother and therefore they aren’t focused on the moment. When you get on the line, don’t slot yourself in. Believe you have a shot and race like it’s anyone’s game. Because you never know.
You can’t control the weather. We all know this. But we can control what we eat for dinner, what time we go to bed, the food we bring to our race and the socks we wear. We can set an alarm. We can set 2 alarms. We can make sure we aren’t going to a race with someone who stresses us out. We have to set ourselves up for success. If we control what we can control we set ourselves up for success.The rest is out of our hands.
Some days are gonna suck. Some are going to be awesome. Most will be pretty good. That’s the rule of thirds. You have to have all of these days and be okay with them. If you’re working too hard every day, you’re not going to be able to recover and will likely put yourself in a hole. If you’re feeling like a rock star every day, you need to wonder if you’re working hard enough. Enjoy the good days. Power through the bad days. Know they all count. And they all make us better.
I ask my athletes all the time, why are you here? Do you love running? Do you want to be with friends? Do you like competing? If you can’t answer this question you probably need to take a step back and look within. Is this really what you want to be doing? And if so, why? Because that’s what you need to remember day in and day out. This—joy, friends, winning, health—is why I run.
Boston-area editor-at-large Rebecca Trachsel is a mom, a competitive age-group marathoner, a high school cross country and track coach, and music lover with a coffee problem. She’s still chasing big goals—and wearing super shoes—and having a blast along the way.
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