Super Bowl and Running

Monday, February 04, 2013 · Mike Davis

Last night the Baltimore Ravens finished off a great run by winning the Super Bowl and John Harbaugh will have the family bragging rights, while his brother Jim will blame the lose on a bad call. Definitely an interesting Super Bowl with some great storylines but regardless, the football season is over. As I get older I struggle more and more with some professional sports and it has made it easier to leave the TV off and enjoy other activities. Between the violent hits and the players thumping their chest, I get pretty turned off and so more times than not I have chosen not to even turn the TV on. There was a time not so many years ago that I could watch sports just about every day of the week and not get sick of it. Maybe it’s a sign of getting old as it has become more and more difficult to relate to the changes of the professional sports. Sportsmanship has been replaced by showmanship and it has become “me”, instead of “us!” This evolution has benefited me in some ways as it has driven me away from the TV and freed up time for many of the things I enjoy most. With coaching runners, being a runner and having numerous hobbies I find time is my greatest challenge. I couldn’t imagine if I were still watching sports as often as I was a few years ago, I would probably be 25 pounds heavier and not out helping others become the runners they want to be! This week is another busy week in the world of working with runners. Tonight I meet with a client and hopefully we will be meeting in my new digs in Portsmouth. Tomorrow I have a consultation with a woman that wants to run a half marathon in April, followed by a meeting with another client. I was supposed to meet with one of my newest clients on Wednesday but she canceled because of work, and I’m trying to hook up with another client for an early morning session at some point. Around all of that I will be spending a great deal of time evaluating their training logs to make some decisions that are critical to each of them. One client is hoping to run the Half at the Hamptons this month, while another is beginning a critical month of speed training and my newest client is a day to day evaluation as to her chances of getting to Boston in April. I already have their running plans designed for February based on goals and the No Finish Line Running (NFLR) training log from January, but in some cases I evaluate their training on a weekly basis and if need be, even daily. The advantage of the NFLR log is that I can see the day to day training and at the most 7 days may have passed since I have reviewed their training. In many cases I might even get a daily update if necessary. In the future it will be a daily update as we provide the option at www.nofinishlinerunning.com. For now the log is emailed to me every Sunday, but we are working to create an online log that each client has set up for them. Having the ability to interact using technology helps me to provide detailed coaching to many more people than I could ever imagine. From my laptop I am able to evaluate and make decisions that help each individual runner daily. This also helps to keep my fees reasonable as I don’t physically need to be all over the place. Literally I am just one click away! As I mentioned this month is the beginning of speed month for one client (Ashley). Ashley’s goal is to better her time at Boston and has struggled to not only get faster, but to stay healthy (both mentally and physically). The first 2 months of our working together have been different for her as we have slowed her down, developed her core and made running fun again! Now it’s time to push a bit harder and focus on what was most likely the reason she hired me; to get faster. Personally while I think she will get faster, I think my greatest value to her will have been helping her to smile and run! I believe that her happiness with her running will help with the speed part tremendously. Back in November she came to me with some injuries and frustration; two months later, she’s stronger, having fun and eager! I will still keep tight reigns on her, keeping most of her runs at conversational pace, but once or twice a week I will be challenging her with some demanding speed work. The idea is to keep her base strong and rested while improving her ability to maintain a certain pace for a controlled duration. Pretty exciting for both of us. So you can see why I am no longer able to sit in front of the television for hours at a time. Between working to help runners, enjoying my own running and hanging with my wife, I have no time or desire to watch TV. Congratulations Ravens!