When I start coaching people, I often say to them "You are where you are and that's a great place to start." Its a reminder to people that they can't rush the process of changing their body, and that they need to be honest with themselves about whatever their starting point is.
When Sera approached me to start our '5 weeks to 5km' Training Plan recently, she was the one playing these words back to me.
I coached Sera to do New York Marathon a couple of years ago, which was a huge ambition and goal for her. With that ticked off, she moved on to other life goals such as changing career and writing her first book! However, she kept in touch and I always had a suspicion that there was going to be another deviation back to the world of running.
When she started the 5 week program, with three 20-30 minute run / walk sessions per week, there was no ego. No harking back to the fact that she crushed the New York Marathon a couple of years ago. No hang ups about the fact that she wasn't 'run-fit' yet. She accepted the fact that she was where she was, and then started building from there.
Over the 5 weeks, she got back to 5km, found her running groove, enjoyed the accountability of having a coach again, enjoyed the simplicity of the program, the information it provided and the challenge of getting back in to it.
When we start new things or revisit old hobbies, we so often attach old comparisons and our ego can get the better of us. Thank you Sera for reminding me that this doesn't have to be the case, that it can actually be a time to embrace where we are currently at and have a bit of fun with a new, totally independent challenge. Nice work!
I'm looking forward to seeing what new challenges Sera and our other 5 weeks to 5km graduates set themselves in 2021! if you are thinking of working your way to 5km and would like some structure and accountability to help you get there, check out our '5 weeks to 5km' online training plan.