Coaching a Coach

I coach VERY few adults anymore. But a little over a year ago a friend of mine, Blair, came to me and said he had a goal of training for/completing an Ironman. He asked if I would coach him. After we met and talked (in probably WAY more detail and depth than he expected) I said I would be very happy to be part of his journey.

If you've known me any length of time you know I typically do not talk about who I'm coaching and I "never" name people in my blog, and "never" post on social media about my athletes. I feel like their story is their own to tell... but I got permission to make a post about Blair (even though he has no idea what I am going to say!).

I started a FaceBook post, but as I started writing, I realized it needed to be a blog post, because it is going to be long...just get a cup of coffee, or a tall glass of tea and settle in for a minute or ten.

I met Blair many years ago. Maybe I met someone who worked out at Iron Tribe Fitness, or maybe I just saw the gym off the parkway and wanted to know exactly what it was. I remember being very immediately impressed with the place, but more impressed with Blair as the owner/manager. Although I think I was training for the Grand Slam at the time I signed up to start working out there. I loved it. I think I worked out there about a year...maybe until I started heavily training for IMChoo 2015. 

At that time I was also training A LOT of adults, I had a big kids team, I was training for IMChoo, along with teaching several Spin classes at the Y. There are only so many hours in a day so something had to give...the first thing I gave up was working out at ITF. Thankfully Blair and I remained friends over the years.

So when he said he wanted to take his time working toward completing an Ironman I was thrilled to be part of that journey with him.

I won't go into all the details of Blair's story, but suffice it to say, he has A LOT going on that takes priority over training. WAY more than the average person. The truth is, most people wouldn't even think of adding to the already full plate he had going on...but Blair is not like most people.

Blair is a man of strong character. He is the consummate family man (at least from the outside looking in). He's a business owner. He's a coach. He's very strong, determined, and dedicated. I told him he already had all the qualities that people usually do IM to prove they have. (I won't share his reasons for why he chose to make IM a goal-again, those are his to share/not share...but he could absolutely articulate a reason-which is a crucial foundation I require of anyone I choose to coach.)

Not long after training started, Blair had some MAJOR upheaval in his life (business and house moves to name a couple of the biggies). Then he had some knee issues and, illness...nothing major there just some nagging "stuff" going on that was counter to "perfect" training. 

But Blair kept pushing through.

And that was the theme of his race yesterday. He just kept pushing through.

Now, let me be clear...that's the theme of pretty much EVERY Ironman race. In fact, that's the HALLMARK of an Ironman...we keep pushing through. We don't let obstacles stop us...we simply figure out what has to be done to get over, around, under, or through them. We don't get permanently derailed when we are thrown off course, we do what we must to get back on track.

Back in May Blair toed the line at IMChoo70.3...but he pulled himself off the course during the run. He had been really sick leading up to the race and realized almost immediately during the swim that he was not better....but, true to form, he pushed through the swim and the bike. In an astonishing display of strength and self-awareness he realized when he got to the run it was not wise to continue. The cost of completing that race was not worth the bragging rights to say he finished what really amounted to a training day. 

He kept the end goal, finishing Ironman, in the very front of his mind.

Some people may have sacrificed other areas of their lives to make sure something like THAT never happened again. But Blair held steady. That apparent "failure" didn't shake him. (At least not outwardly.) It didn't cause him to doubt himself or his goal.

He never wavered.

One thing I've struggled with in life is balance. I'm an "all-in" kind of gal. Sometimes I've been "all-in" on something that was decidedly not the best thing for me....and oftentimes "all-in" has caused me to be very out of balance with everything (for example, I really NEED to be taking a nap, or maybe cleaning my house, but I'm "all-in" on this blog post!) Ironman seems like it's an "all-in" kind of endeavor, but the truth is, no sport we do for fun should rule your life. Training should fit your life, not the other way around. There's a very funny meme that I tried to find but couldn't...it shows a house with a VERY overgrown lawn and flowerbeds badly in need of weeding and it says something like "what Ironman training looks like". The point the "funny" meme is making is that oftentimes people training for Ironman neglect most of the other things in their life.

Now, I am not close enough to Blair personally to know if he did or didn't neglect other things. I mean, the truth is there are only so many hours in a day. Training hours have to happen at some point...people with busy lives do have to push something "out" to make room for training (show me an IM who doesn't have a busy life...). Sometimes what gets pushed is family time or time with friends, sometimes it's sleep, sometimes it's yard/housework...sometimes athletes will pay money for things they could do themselves (yard/housework, grocery or meal delivery....). From what I saw (again, on the outside looking in), Blair worked to make sure the big rocks got put in the jar first...and training wasn't one of the biggest rocks many days. 

(If you aren't sure what I am talking about watch this.)

That is NOT to say he didn't train...but let's just say he didn't do every workout as written.

He was balanced.

Yesterday was the culmination of over a year of hard work. I won't write out his race report...but I will give you my spectator report...I saw him at the start, then twice out of the water (when he came out of the water then I sprinted across the green to watch him go up the "ramp"). Then I drove out to a spot on the bike course that allows spectators to drive from one side to the other of the "finger" ....so I got to see him 4 times on the bike-each time he looked strong despite the POURING rain! Then I waited on the Riverwalk (playing some music for the runners)...until I got worried. The (stupid) tracker made it look like he had stopped when in reality he was walk/running the whole time. I saw him twice more on the course, and then at the finish line....I cried like a baby when the announcer said 

Blair Morris...YOU ARE AN IRONMAN!

Ironman is tough. Different people approach it in different ways. Getting to the start line is HARD, getting to the finish line is harder. But once you do it, it can never be taken away. It's not for the faint of heart.

This Saturday I will toe the line at a 70.3 once more...I'm not as ready as I'd like to be, but I have been training, and I'm as ready as I will get! Right now my plan is to, once again, set my stake in the ground of another Ironman next year. I hope I can be as balanced, unwavering, and push through to get to that start line (and ultimately the finish line) once more.

Putting the Last Bit of Hay in the Barn

In exactly one month I'll be "competing" in IM70.3 Memphis. I say "competing" because I've been (sort of) training for this race. I won't be competitive in the grand scheme of things-not against any other person in the race...but I will be competing against the voice in my head...okay, voiceS, plural. 

A couple of months ago I had made up my mind to train hard but life gets in the way when training isn't a top priority. But I have been at least sort of training. I'm swimming regularly, running 2-3 times a week, and riding my bike at least once a week (ugh). It's not the full-blown training plan I intended when I finally pulled the trigger and signed up for this race, but it's more than I've done consistently since 2015 when I was training for IMChoo.

I'm not as ready as I would like, but I still have a month to go. 

Let me be clear--you should not/can not train for a 70.3 in a month. But that's not what I'm saying. I'm just saying I intend to get the last bit of "hay in the barn" before race day by being very intentional about what I'm doing. Last year when I did IM70.3 Choo I had done MUCH less before race day and I at least finished and I felt good the next day (other than a blister on my foot). My time was just barely less than the cutoff time, but I made it.

My A goal for this race is around 6:30. Looking at what I've been doing in training I think it's possible...not highly likely but possible. More likely my time will be between 6:45-7, but even that is huge given all that I've been through the last 7 years.

I still can't believe it's been that long since I started having big noticeable issues, but it was the fall of 2015.

For a while I thought it was just going to be a minor setback. I thought it was going to be like a minor injury that would resolve fairly quickly and I'd be back to my "normal" self, training and racing. My plan when I finished IMLT in 2013 was to do an Ironman every other year. But that plan was completely derailed. There was a time when I questioned if I'd ever be able to return to endurance sports.  Then it became apparent that I could "participate" in events with longer cutoff times, I questioned if I'd ever be able to "really race" again, 

But here I am!

One of the biggest things that has changed has been my thyroid meds.

When I was first having issues in the fall of 2015 I was on Synthroid. Somewhere along the way I switched to Tirosint (a more pure form of T4). Then after I finished the steroid treatments I was on a quest to figure out why my brain was attacked and ended up seeing a doctor in Kansas who put me on a desiccated thyroid hormone (first NatureThroid then Armour) which is a natural T4/T3 compound. But after a couple of years I realized what I was doing wasn't working as well as I wanted it to so I switched back to my local endocrinologist who put me back on Tirosint. But it didn't take long for me to see that wasn't the answer either. He ended up sending me to a different doctor who put me on a synthetic T4/T3 compound where he controlled the amounts of each I was getting. He also prescribed LDN (a medication that is meant to fight general autoimmunity).

At the same time I also got another iron infusion and I started eating Juice Plus. I almost immediately felt better. But I didn't get repeat blood work for my thyroid...fast forward to that fall (2021)...

We got to go out to Colorado Springs for 6 weeks. Just before we left I got another iron infusion. While we were there I started noticing a MARKED improvement in how I was feeling. Then the month after we got back (after I did the Boston (virtual) Marathon-on the course) I got covid.

My immune system went completely haywire. When I got my thyroid numbers checked they were WAY WAY WAY off (VERY high antibodies, high TSH, low T4, low T3). We figured it was due to covid and he increased my LDN. But that didn't work. So he increased my T4 and T3. But that still hasn't completely worked (my numbers are still not where they need to be).

I think my thyroid hasn't ever really been "right". I think it was close but not really ideal between late 2010 and fall 2015. But I don't think it's been even close since then. I don't think it's really good even now.

The thyroid impacts EVERY SINGLE CELL in your body! It regulates the rate your cells use energy. So if the thyroid isn't working properly you might be either amped up (hyperthyroid) or sluggish (hypothyroid). 

So, in the analogy of putting hay in the barn (training)...if the thyroid is slow to produce or if it isn't converting what your body makes (T4) into what your body uses (T3) then you will not be producing much hay, not matter what you try to do...the hay is going to be VERY SLOW GROWING and you'll be able to store VERY LITTLE of it in the barn. Now, I think I'm doing better than I have been in a VERY LONG TIME, but I'm still not where I need to be.

But I'm so much farther along than I have been in the last 7 years! I've FINALLY started losing weight...I'm at my lowest weight since early 2016. I'm running better than I have since like fall of 2015! My swim is not great...I don't understand why but it's just not. I'm attributing it to a lack of upper body strength which is the most likely culprit. My bike is "fine"...but I REALLY need to put more time in the saddle. The hard part about bike training is that Dwayne REALLY does not want me riding anywhere except the Arsenal-that makes it nearly impossible to get good miles in. I do have a trainer, but it's a PAIN to take the back tire on and off...(excuses excuses...)

Well...I have one more month until race day! By this time a month from now I should be on the run (I better be on the run by now!). I'm so stinking excited!