The Big Picture

            A while ago my sister’s dog got very ill, and she had to go to the vet.  Her name is Sky because she was a Siberian Husky, and her eyes were as blue as the sky.  If any of you have owned or been around Siberian Husky’s you know that they talk instead of bark.  Some might call is howling, but I call it talking.

After seeing the vet they determined that she needed surgery right away.  Sky got through the surgery fine, and after the surgery my sister and I went to see her.  She was happy to see us, but they needed to keep her over night.  They needed to monitor her to make sure that nothing went wrong.  My sister and I were not equipped to take care of her if something happened where she needed medical help.

We spent some time with her, but she sensed that we were going to leave.  It was almost as if she was begging us, pleading with us to take her with us.  She did not understand why she was in pain, she did not understand why she had to be kept in a cage, and she did not understand why her family would not take her home and help her.  Our hearts broke as she tried to talk to us to tell us how she was feeling.  We wished we could explain that it was for her own good.  We wished we could explain that we loved her and wanted her to get better.  There was just no way to help her to understand, and we had to leave her there to be monitored through the night.

In the morning we were able to pick her up.  Sky had survived, and she was very excited to see us.  She was still in some pain, but she wanted to come home with us even though she had to have a big cone on her head, so she didn’t bit open her stitches.

As the days went on Sky got stronger and healthier.  Soon the dreaded cone head came off (that she still did not understand why she had to have on either).  The surgery was a success, and she felt better and did better than she did before.  She had to go through some things that she did not comprehend to get healthier and stronger.  If she had her way she likely would not even be around now.

You may be asking yourself, what does this have to do with training and coaching?  I’m going to try to relate it from my perspective.

As an athlete we all have things that we like to do.  Whether we are a runner or a triathlete, we all have our favorite thing.  Triathletes might be stronger in any one of the three disciplines.  A runner may love the long slow distance run, the track run, the tempo run or even just a casual free run without a watch or a heart rate.

While there are some athletes that just want to train without any specific goal in mind, most of us have something we are training for.  We do not want to just finish a race, but we want to do our very best at it.  We want to get healthier, stronger, and faster.  How do we do this?  If we do it the way we want to do it because it is comfortable, easier, safer, and more fun to us then we may not achieve our goals.

When my sister’s dog, Sky, was sick she wanted to go to a place that was more comfortable to her.  If she could have chosen where to go she never would have become stronger and healthier.  She had to be in the care of people that were experts in helping her.  The doctors had a lot of experience in helping other animals recover from illnesses and surgeries.  We trusted them with her, and that trust paid off.

Jeff and I have trained so many wonderful athletes over the years.  I couldn’t even tell you how many athletes we have had on our team.  I have to tell you that each one of our athletes is different.  Not all of them respond the same way to their training.  We are always interacting with our teammates, other athletes, and researching new technologies, so that we are best able to help you achieve your best.

We may ask you to do a run when you would rather do a bike.  We may ask you to do a strength workout when you would rather be doing a swim.  We may ask you to run long and slow when you want to be at the track.  There are reasons for your specific training plan.  It is personalized for you.  While we do not claim to be perfect, we do have a pretty good track record, and our goal is to help you achieve your goals.

As coaches we may see things that you do not see.  Just like Sky could not see the whole picture, you might not have the experience to know why a different workout is better for you on a particular day.  The great thing about having a coach is that you do not have to think.  You can do the work, and we get to do the thinking.  It is what we love to do.  It is like finding the formula that is perfect just for you.

We find success in your success.  Hopefully our teammates are able to feel a sense of family because that is what our hope is.  We may be scattered all over the world, but we are just a click away from each other.  We love it when the team supports each other.  We share in each other’s victories, and we sorrow in each other’s pain.  We encouraged when someone is down, and we are uplifted when someone does something they did not think they could do.

Last night we were talking with a new teammate.  He is fairly new to running and is really enjoying it.  He told us that he had no idea before he listened to some running podcasts that there were coaches out there that would train an average athlete.  We want every athlete to know that there are some great coaches out there to help.  Endurance training can be dangerous if not done correctly.  Injuries and fatigue can happen if the training is not structured right.

We have some great coaches on our team, so whether or not you decide to train with Coach Jeff and me or one of our other wonderful coaches, Kristine Miller, Glenn McDaniels, and Trevor Cruz, we can assure you that you will be in good hands.  If any of our other coaches has a question we are all a team to help each other out to help our PRS Fit family.

To those of you who are on our team, we care about you and your success.  We hope you feel we are here to help achieve your goals.  For those of you who do not have a coach and wish to check us out then visit www.prsfit.com we would love to talk to you about becoming part of our amazing family of athletes.

As always: Be Healthy, Train Smart, Have Fun