When getting recruited for college cross country and track, one of the most notable, buzziest terms that coaches used to woo me into their team was “individualized training.” Emphasizing this term during recruit, and backing it up during coaching, makes a lot of sense. Having workouts, volume, and a method of training that is unique to the athlete is so important for performance, injury prevention, and overall progression. While I believe that most coaches strive to provide individualized training, it’s difficult to fully understand each athlete to the extent that is necessary to actually provide the ideal training for them.
Last year, I endeavored to coach myself with the mentality that I knew myself better than any coach, so I was best equipped to coach myself. Over the course of a year, I realized that knowing myself was only half of the equation; I also needed to be able to understand and call-out my shortcomings and negative tendencies. As an athlete, my strengths are threshold training, enduring long hours of cross training, pushing through when things get tough, and a willingness to push the boundaries in training. My weaknesses are my speed, inability to hit 3-5k pace in training, difficulty with allowing myself to rest, and an obsessive need to always do more and push the boundaries. Realizing this about myself did not translate to writing the perfect training with well-balanced volume, intensity, speed, threshold, and rest. It translated to me understanding that I should probably take one day off per month, but not being able to be the one that made that happen.
This year, I decided to have my friend, Ari, coach me. He has a strong knowledge of training methods, understands my goals, is willing to collaborate, knows my strengths and weaknesses, and realizes the need to keep my enthusiasm for training in check. So far, my time with Ari as my coach has resulted in the strongest, most consistent training and progression of my post-collegiate career….as well as the most unique and individualized training of my life. Watch the video below to see what my week looks like when it is truly individualized for my needs.
