Meals for Miles

Even though I haven’t done gymnastics in more than 10 years (yikes. I’m old), it was a huge part of my life at one point.

So much so that I still hear my coaches words of wisdom in my head before, during and after some of my runs – hearing the same thing almost every day for 10 years will do that to you, I guess.

This morning?

“Just try!”

Simple, yes. But even so, it’s not always the easiest thing to do. I’ve been feeling kind of slow lately and haven’t been looking forward to my runs as much as I usually do. Maybe the dark and freezing cold are also playing a role, but I know I’m also getting down on myself thinking I’ll never get my speed back. Yesterday I ran an unremarkable 7.25 miles, and today I was all set to repeat pretty much the exact same run.

But then Kurt’s voice (my old coach, who I’m sure doesn’t read this but hiiiii, Kurt!) got all up in my head. “Just tryyyyyy.” And being the ever obedient athlete, I tried.

The result was a pretty decent tempo run with two miles at goal half marathon pace and two miles at faster-than-marathon pace. And you know? It wasn’t even that hard, I survived and felt great when I arrived back at my apartment.

Breakfast – the usual.

Other gymnastics coach words of wisdom:

“Don’t think, just go.”
In gymnastics, this usually applied to my flight series on beam, but now I use it all the time both in running and life. I start my runs first thing in the morning – no time to think or procrastinate, just throw the shoes on and go. Ok, more like stretch, eat a banana, use the potty, get dressed, then throw the shoes on and go, but still…

In life, I used this mantra just last week when I decided to leave my job. I had already thought it through and planned, so when it came to actually putting the wheels in motion, I just had to stop thinking and GO.

“The person who wins bars wins the all-around.”
Bars is arguably the toughest event, and if you don’t do well chances are your all-around will suffer. Vice versa, if you’re great on bars it bodes well for the rest of your meet, as long as you don’t royally screw up anywhere else (case in point: look at Nastia’s bar routine). We always put the most work in on bars in order to do well, and even though this is kind of gymnastics-specific, it can be related to running. Who’s going to do better in a race, the person who does regular speedwork and pushes themselves, or the one who settles for easy runs and misses a lot of workouts?

“If you say you can’t, you can’t.”
My coaches never let us use the c-word, and now I finally understand why. That little word does a number on confidence – if you tell yourself you can’t do something, then of course your body won’t cooperate.

“Speed creates power.”
In the gymnastics-world, this is mostly related to tumbling and vaulting. But hello? If you work on being a faster runner, you’re probably going to be a more powerful one up those hills to (and vice versa, I think!).

It’s funny how these are so fresh in my memory when it feels like I was a gymnast in another lifetime, but it just goes to show how much sports can influence our lives beyond our competitive years. I don’t think I’d be the same person had I not been so heavily involved in gymnastics, nor would I be as passionate a runner today.

I often wonder how different my life would be without sports and all of the lessons I’ve learned from them. I’ll never know, but it’s pretty safe to say it would have been a lot less exciting, fulfilling and motivating and for sure devoid of A TON of sweat.

I like it so much better the way it is

Question: Did you grow up with sports? Which one (if not running)? Any lessons learned from your coaches?