Becoming my own coach

It occurred to me today that I need some structure in my running routine when I'm not actively training for a marathon. I have a tendency to make plans, then change them, and never fully commit to a transition or recovery plan. I need a coach.

The thing is, I know what I should do. I know what a coach would tell me to do. But I rarely follow through. So I thought I'd do a little experiment in this downtime between training for marathons: being my own coach.

I will give myself a very detailed plan of action each week, and in terms of this overall time period, with the goal of keeping my fitness up between trainings, letting my legs recover from the last training cycle, and strengthening my weaknesses (hips, glutes, core). I also need to lose about ten pounds that I put on since beginning my fall marathon training, which has resulted in increasingly poor race performances.

So having a plan of action is all well and good, but the important thing here is accountability and following through. I must follow through to ensure a great start to marathon training in the spring. But how?

Firstly, I need to be definitive. I need to know exactly what is expected of me, and that it is expected. I am the coach, and I must not let the coach down. I think it's also a good plan to have rewards. I want to stay on track, and positive reinforcement will be pretty helpful. I will plan a reward for each week of the plan that is followed through. The ultimate reward at the culmination of the cycle will be registration for my spring marathon.

Second, accountability. I will detail each week of my plan on my blog, and will also post a review of my training for that week. Then at the very least, I will be publicly accountable for my actions.

This should be a fun experiment to see a) if I can be a successful student to myself, and b) if I can set myself up for a good spring training cycle. This plan will begin officially next week, and will go for the next six weeks, ending in mid-January. Next post to follow will be an overview for the plan, and the first week's details. Let's go!

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