A Sense of Normal

Since Sunday morning, I've been feeling pretty good. It's not 100-percent, and probably won't be for another three to six weeks. Sleeping is still painful, and getting up in the morning even more so. Whether this has more to do with the increased beer intake over the past week or the muscles adjusting to the increased workload is hard to say.

I actually started getting around out of the sling on Friday evening. I did not feel like having to juggle it, my cell phone, wallet, glasses, and so on. If I had to stay in it for an extended period of time a trip to Running Wild for some of those neat little Velcro-strappable add-ons would have been necessary...either that, or I'd be borrowing one of my wife's left-over chunks of cloth from her running attire modifications in order to build a lighter, more breathable sling. The Townsend is comfortable, but not when the heat index approaches triple digits.

Yesterday was my first "real" cardiovascular workout in a couple of weeks since the accident. I did some elliptical trainer the first couple of mornings after, then started to worry, especially when Roberto, one of my athletes (and a dentist) had a concerned look on his face. After that, I ditched the ET for walking. I hated that, big time. I like working out...the smell of chlorinated water in the morning, the feeling of honest fatigue as I'm sucking down that well-earned first cup of coffee (as my father would say, 'momentum...') in the office...easy days with Scott and Steve on the back side of the airport...the rare occasional set of all-out, b@lls-to-the-wall 160s with full recoveries...the sense of accomplishment at the top of the hill...

While there are aspects of training I don't care for, like having to shoehorn my bike or swim workout in between sleep and work, right now I'm not really focusing on the negative things. All I can think of is how much fun it is to be with friends and kicking butt.

I realize there's going to be a day, or a time, when the dividing slash thrown after my original descriptor, "athlete" is going to have to go away; rather than be "athlete/coach" I'll be just a coach. The past three weeks have given me a little insight on what that's going to feel like. At this point in time I'm not quite ready.

I'm ready for normal...any time now.

Priority Male

When you are an athlete, and even more so when you are a coach, your life revolves around coming attractions. Vacations are tied into races, accommodations are considered worthy or unworthy based upon their adaptation to training, air travel is preferred over driving, aisle over bulkhead seat, and so on...

Suzanne's better on this than I am. She'll drive to visit her parents on a Saturday when I can't seem to get away from running a track workout. The 'rents are pretty understanding about it. They know I'm passionate about the sport.

And really, the psychology of performance translates quite well from the world of sport to the world of everyday work/life. Think about these points:

1. Choose your parents wisely.

- - As a whole, we all bring pretty much the same general stuff to the table. The little things we get from our parents can make a difference.

2. Attitude is everything.

- - Toxic teammates are a bummer no matter what the situation. There's not enough salary in the world that can make a person stay in a place where they're not happy. However, the wrong persons stay too long and the good persons leave too soon.

3. Have a Plan "B," a Plan "C," and a Plan "D."

- - Success means the ability to adjust the plan as circumstances arise.