“I can’t believe this is my job!” I said smiling to myself (or maybe laughing out loud) while running repeats up and down a quarter mile stretch of hilly road in the pelting rain for an hour (the safe, yet boring option to complete the prescribed workout while minimizing the chances of being run over by an idiotic LA driver unaccustomed to the rare, wet roads) and after climbing an outdoor staircase wearing a weighted vest in the pelting rain for ninety minutes last Monday in Santa Monica.
Although completing the workouts was my first priority of the day, my focus was also on finishing the run with enough of a time buffer to account for gridlocked traffic on the 405 freeway to race back to my house in order to make it on time for a call with one of my athletes. Miraculously, the clouds parted on the other side of the San Fernando Pass (cars were rolling versus crawling) so I not only made it home early enough to make the call on time (after pushing it thirty minutes due the rainy-day traffic concern) but I even snuck in an impromptu call from another athlete who pinged me while I sat soaking in my car seat parked in front of my house.
Post weighted-stairs + hour run workouts on the first rainy Monday of November.
That moment harkened back to when I was a production assistant working 12+ hour days working on the model/miniature shoot for the movie The League Of Extraordinary Gentleman, because after standing and performing other random tasks of physical labor on set all day, I’d drive to a quiet nearby neighborhood surrounding the stages to run for an hour before driving down the 5 freeway to my studio apartment in Venice in order to complete my daily training for the Los Angeles Marathon.
I repeated that routine for months.
Often not hitting the pillow until after 12A, while never missing my 5:30A wake up call to do it all over again.
True, it barely rains in Southern California, but a few of those late-night runs were enjoyed in the rain. Therefore, those monstruous and marvelous Monday leg heavy workouts I endured last week in soggy conditions were tough, yet serene, and warmly nostalgic, because it reminded me that for over twenty years of being driven by a passion to keep running, keep training, keep enduring, but feeling selfish most of the time for devoting so much time to those passion-fueled pursuits, instead I realized that all along I’ve been on the right path toward a career much better suited to my innate strengths, but did not expect, yet believe I was destined for.
I view my vocation as a coach as two sides of the same coin that balance each other out to earn an even flip every time. I choose to train and race to improve as an athlete, but also to gain experience, and then pass on those needful nuggets of knowledge gleaned from my successes and mistakes to my athletes; pointing out the cracks that tripped me up, so they can hop over them instead, and demonstrating that there is no set timeline for goals, our health and strength can improve with age, and even when fatigue presses down on our perceived limits, the lethal combo of calories and a catnap can punch through any brick wall to retrieve energy on the other side 99.98% of the time. In essence, I believe that coaching is a job of doing, observing, sharing, listening and guiding people along the path toward their goals in endurance, and in everyday life.
My coach/mentor/boss/friend, Hillary Biscay, and me after Ironman Arizona, 2017.
Furthermore, I believe the coach/athlete relationship is unique and a privilege on both sides. I am grateful for my coach, as she has been a keen and powerful presence in my life for over a dozen years now (WOW! That’s a long time…) and I am honored and grateful to be the coach of an incredible stable of athletes who trust and inspire me to help guide them toward their goals.
My athlete, Kara Turner. and I moments after she decided to race Ironman Arizona last January after surviving, err, finishing Biscay Coaching Winter Camp.
My athlete Samantha Caldwell is racing Ironman Arizona, too, and it is her first Ironman, woo-hoo!! This photo is moments after she raced the Hermosa Beach Sprint triathlon in August.
In fact, I am thrilled to have the opportunity to race alongside two of my athletes this Sunday at Ironman Arizona, and be cheered on by my coach, Hillary Biscay, as she will be on the sidelines supporting all of the Biscay Coaching athletes (and fellow coach, Amy Hite) who will be racing the 140.6 miles through the sunny dry air and along the cacti strewn streets all day… and night.
Speaking of activities that that drag on from sunrise to beyond sunset, I wrote MUCH, MUCH more about my pull toward coaching, the buzz I feel when crafting training plans, the explosion of glee I feel when an athlete finishes a workout they didn’t believe they could, and how their excitement feeds mine, etc., but I need to wrap this blog up because #raceweek, i.e, I still have a lot to do… BUT before I sign off, I want to finally share that our already tremendous coaching staff at Biscay Coaching just added two more phenomenal women to the ranks… Legendary Professional Triathlete, Meredith Kessler, and the brilliant, and magnificent motivating Mama, age-group athlete, Stephanie Granlund.
Top left: Hillary Biscay, Alyssa Godesky, Meredith Kessler.
Bottom left: Amy Hite, Yours Truly, Stephanie Granlund.
Both of these women are outstanding human beings, stellar athletes, and possess unrivaled knowledge and experience in triathlon and beyond. I am SO PUMPED to have them as peers and colleagues in this career I love so much!
Alright that will do it, but please feel free to send any and all fast vibes my way on Sunday.
The song and video choice this week came out of nowhere, but it really resonates how I’m feeling this week, it’s one my favorites from Katy Perry.