Indoor season is starting to wind-down. I'm going to Seattle this weekend (by myself) for one last shot at meeting the minimum mark for Indoor Nationals. So far, my jumping has been fairly mediocre, with my best marks being high 18 ft. I need to jump at least a foot farther to put myself in possible contention for getting into the meet. I know I have it in me; that piece just needs to show up! As Josh like to remind me, my head is my greatest weakness. In the past, I've been too tense when really going for my jumps. So I thought I would try different strategies to approaching my jumps. One week, I tried being super relaxed. The next week, I tried just having fun. However, none of my alterations worked. (Again, obviously, my brain was getting in my way.) So this weekend, I've decided to just go for it! What else do I have to lose? I know I am in great shape for it. My body feels great, my speed is there, I'm feeling super powerful. All I have to do is go and execute!
Which gets me back to the original point of the post. Many of you have asked, "What is it like training with your spouse?" One person in particular was amazed that we could even tolerate spending that much time with one another. There are definitely challenges, but overall, it's been going well.
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| Decade-old picture. How crazy! |
We met on the track while at UC Davis. It's where we have spent the majority of our time together. However, being someone's teammate and being their athlete/coach are two totally different things as I have come to find out! Add into that layer that my teammate/coach is my spouse and things can certainly get interesting. :)
Josh has written all of our post-collegiate workouts for the last few years. He plans the season out, learns how to perform the skills, and then has the wonderful job of getting me to execute everything correctly. It's a daunting task for anyone, especially when your athlete likes to whine and complain. (Although, I have been trying really hard not to complain to him about the workouts! That's the challenging part for me.)
So, with all this mixing of roles, this is what I have learned:
1. Don't confuse your roles!
Think to yourself, "Am I saying this because he is my coach and this is how I speak to my coach? Or am I saying this because I'm annoyed that the house is a mess, and I'm upset that the laundry wasn't put away so I'm going to take it out now?" Make sure the athlete comes out and not the annoyed wife.
2. Don't complain about workouts.
While it's hard enough running out there and going through the pain, it's got to be even worse to knowingly write down a workout you know is going to hurt. It must be tempting to try to convince yourself something less painful would be "good enough."
3. Don't take things so personally.
This is probably the hardest one for me. It's really difficult to turn the 'wife' brain off and put the 'athlete' brain on. I'm working on it. Maybe not fast enough for Josh though...
4. Enjoy the time together
As the great band Aftershocker once said, "time with you at home isn't time together'. Sometimes, that's how I feel about our time at the track. We're there to work on a task. Put the feet to the pavement, as they say. However, it's also the largest chunk of time we get to spend together awake, about 20 to 25 hours a week (plus occasional workouts that we do apart when life gets in the way).
5. Remember why we're doing this.
Despite the tough times and the difficult times, I always remind myself that we are out there to have fun. No one is making us and it is entirely a choice that we have made. We love this sport so much! Which is why we have decided to dedicate so many hours to it. While we may get irritated with one another here and there and have our disagreements, we still suit up for practice and try not to let our tiffs get between us or in the way of our main goal: Run fast, jump high, throw far!!
And with that, it's time to punch my ticket as Dee would say...
Off to Seattle now! Here we go!!
Josh has written all of our post-collegiate workouts for the last few years. He plans the season out, learns how to perform the skills, and then has the wonderful job of getting me to execute everything correctly. It's a daunting task for anyone, especially when your athlete likes to whine and complain. (Although, I have been trying really hard not to complain to him about the workouts! That's the challenging part for me.)
So, with all this mixing of roles, this is what I have learned:
1. Don't confuse your roles!
Think to yourself, "Am I saying this because he is my coach and this is how I speak to my coach? Or am I saying this because I'm annoyed that the house is a mess, and I'm upset that the laundry wasn't put away so I'm going to take it out now?" Make sure the athlete comes out and not the annoyed wife.
2. Don't complain about workouts.
While it's hard enough running out there and going through the pain, it's got to be even worse to knowingly write down a workout you know is going to hurt. It must be tempting to try to convince yourself something less painful would be "good enough."
3. Don't take things so personally.
This is probably the hardest one for me. It's really difficult to turn the 'wife' brain off and put the 'athlete' brain on. I'm working on it. Maybe not fast enough for Josh though...
4. Enjoy the time together
As the great band Aftershocker once said, "time with you at home isn't time together'. Sometimes, that's how I feel about our time at the track. We're there to work on a task. Put the feet to the pavement, as they say. However, it's also the largest chunk of time we get to spend together awake, about 20 to 25 hours a week (plus occasional workouts that we do apart when life gets in the way).
5. Remember why we're doing this.
Despite the tough times and the difficult times, I always remind myself that we are out there to have fun. No one is making us and it is entirely a choice that we have made. We love this sport so much! Which is why we have decided to dedicate so many hours to it. While we may get irritated with one another here and there and have our disagreements, we still suit up for practice and try not to let our tiffs get between us or in the way of our main goal: Run fast, jump high, throw far!!
And with that, it's time to punch my ticket as Dee would say...
Off to Seattle now! Here we go!!
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