Love Letters to My Crew

Tuesday, March 10, 2026 – Touching grass

April 10, 2026/in Love Letters 2026/by RWadmin

Hi Gang!

Huge congrats to Leigh Anne who ran the Myrtle Beach marathon in a BQ time and came in 2^nd in her age group in very humid conditions! Guys, I won’t say anything about the weather or footing because I seem to curse it every single time I do, but …. Wheeeee – this feels good!

This week I’ve been thinking about the healing power of nature. How just being outside, enjoying the sights, sounds, smells of nature can be just the brain and mood massage we need. And how long we can go without it, without realizing how much we’re missing it. It’s interesting to think about what we love about running. Most people, when asked, have a hard time coming up with a convincing story. We just know it makes us feel good. But we’re not sure what about it makes us feel good, so we’re not too discerning about how we get it done. In the winter, this could mean a lot of treadmills and indoor tracks, and this particular winter when it meant being outdoors it was usually not as being one with nature, but rather cursing and fighting it. Enjoying being out in nature was for the most part, not a benefit from most runs this winter, and I think many of us found ourselves not finding our usual love of the sport, and noticed something missing from our lives in general.

I’m not saying you need to run in order to benefit from nature. Or that you need nature in order to enjoy your runs. For example right now for my daughter, running is the best when she’s running in fast little circles on an indoor track. She gets her nature in other ways. But I do think that for most of us the two are intertwined in a way that is hard to define, but noticeable when missing. For some people being out in nature is the whole point, and they would never consider a treadmill or indoor track. I do think that one of the main points of it all is to be able to move our bodies in a flow state at one with nature. I know we’ve all experienced those runs, and they are hard to plan or predict and even to define, but to keep our bodies in a state where we can access that seems to be a pretty convincing answer to the question “why do you run”.

I’ve been thinking of the parallels between this and some of our kids and the younger generation’s obsession with “making money”. They all seem to want to work at banks or in business – often with the sole goal of making money. (I know more than half this list works at a bank – no shade, love you all). This is understandable – our society is pointing them in that direction in the same way it celebrates people for “running fast and staying in shape”. But it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that the goal of having money is so that you can enjoy doing something meaningful to you with it. If the only goal is to make it, you end up working for it instead of vice versa. You might mature well into adulthood before even questioning what you might want to do with it.

I feel there is a similarity to that, and just becoming super fit to run fast inside, when in reality, one of the main benefits of being able to run – fast or slow – is to do it in a way that brings you meaning and pleasure. Very often that involves doing it in nature.

But we’re not very self-aware creatures. We notice something is lauded and that we enjoy it, and we’re not sure why, but the reinforcement causes us to pursue it harder. And sometimes that pursuit can take us off the track from what we liked in the first place. There is definitely value in making money as there is in running fast. But ideally those should be the outcomes of pursuing what we love – and many people will continue to enjoy the pursuit without those outcomes and that’s ok too. So if you’ve found yourself questioning your love of running this winter, and you’re not sure why – let me propose that you might be in a nature deficit. You haven’t been getting the value out of running that you used to. But I think you can start bringing it back in with the change in seasons. Don’t give up on it! Go touch grass. And while we’re at it, let’s tell our kids to do the same.

Workout tomorrow – Lakeshore and Leslie! 6:05 drills, 6:15 GO! (yes, it might be wet – but I think above freezing – we can do this)

6-8 x 800 w 1:30 rest (we can redo this workout one more time before marathoners race)

Pace: steady. HM to 10K pace.

That is all – see you in the am!

Seanna

Tuesday, March 3, 2026 – Fake it till you make it

April 10, 2026/in Love Letters 2026/by RWadmin

Hey Gang!

Huge congrats to our Chilly Half Marathoners! This Sunday in very sub-zero temps we had: Erin, Laura, Samantha, Shauna, Rob Dunne, David Steinberg, Monica and myself all running the half. Great job everyone – that was a fun, cold and challenging day – much better with friends!

I’ve been having “season recap” calls with my varsity athletes over the past few weeks. This age group is interesting because they arrive as teenagers and leave four years (or more) later as adults. And within those four years, ideally a transition takes place. In their first year, the athletes arrive to an established program, and have to figure out how to fit in, perform, show up on time, get their school work done, eat and drink enough at the right times, … Mostly what we expect of these kids in their first year is to adapt and learn. But by their fourth year, we want them to be setting the tone, checking in on others, driving a culture that we want, and leading by example. And it is our job as coaches to get them from A to B. I let them know when the expectations have changed, and we no longer just need them to show up, but we need them to show up with the right attitude. Some of them aren’t sure if they can rise to this role. And to them I say, “fake it till you make it”. I do think this philosophy can apply well to growth situations.

It can be scary to be asked to act confident when you don’t feel it. Or to go into a stressful situation as the one in charge. Or to act like you have it all together when you’re not sure you do. But the only way to get there is to start acting the part. I’ve seen some of these athletes show up for workouts at the end of a stressful school day, just wanting the workout to be over, not excited about putting in the work, and hoping it will be an “easy” one. I get it. We all feel that way sometimes. But unless you learn to tell yourself a different story, I can guarantee that it will be a low energy workout. And that energy is contagious. That’s why I specifically ask our team veterans and captains to show up differently. And the beauty of this, is that in acting out the part for someone else or for the rest of your team, your brain and body start to believe it. In not thinking about themselves and their own worries and challenges, but focusing on the rest of the team, good leaders actually manifest better workouts for themselves as well. I think we’ve all seen this with strong leaders in a variety of areas. We ask “how are they always so positive and confident?” The truth is, they’re not. But they know they have to show up that way, and that in turn transforms them into positive, confident athletes or people. I know these are roles we have to grow into, and it does not come naturally to most people – especially when thrust into new situations. And we don’t all have to be, nor can we all be leaders. But if you find yourself in an environment where you wish someone would change the channel on the mood, energy or outlook in a space, maybe you can fake your own change first, and see what follows. My feeling is that in convincing others, you will actually convince yourself.

Tomorrow we’re back to hills! Guys, I think we are going to have good footing, I can’t believe it.

Let’s do this combo again:

2 long hills, 4 min tempo

1 long, 2 short hills, 4 min tempo

3 short hills, 4 min tempo

If you’re on a down week feel free to pick any 2 of the above. If you’re sore from Chilly, go chill on the tempos.

That is all – see you in the am!

Seanna

Tuesday, February 23, 2026 – Bravely facing loss

April 10, 2026/in Love Letters 2026/by RWadmin

Hi Everyone!

First of all I was remiss in leaving out Cheryl’s results from the Palm Springs Half Marathon the other weekend! Cheryl ran less than a minute off her almost 10 yr old PB (so post-kids PB!), ran 7 minutes faster than last year, and came 3^rd in her age group. Congrats Cheryl!! A number of us are running the Chilly Half this weekend – I think almost everyone as a fitness tester and/or supported long run. It will be fun to collectively commiserate on how hard training has been for the past two months. If anyone shows up in peak form, they’ve been training elsewhere.

Speaking of collective commiseration, this weekend we all had to stomach a shared loss in our Olympic final women’s and men’s hockey games. As hard as it hit all of us at home watching, I really felt for the players as the camera swept by all of their faces. They were devastated, and their pain was palpable. Nothing anyone can say will help in these situations. They just have to sit with it and ride it out. We all know this feeling. Working so hard for something and being met with pure disappointment. Are there lessons to be learned? Sometimes. But sometimes the lesson is just how to bear it and move on.

The university track season is over for the athletes I coach. It was a solid season for most, but some experienced disappointment. We had a race leading up to the finals where two athletes were competing for one spot. It was a good race for both of them, but better for the one who triumphed. The athlete who didn’t make it was understandably devastated. She had historically been faster than the other athlete, but the other girl was riding a huge improvement wave after years of work, and she just edged out her teammate. I looked at the athlete who didn’t make it just sitting there in tears. She didn’t want to be unsportsmanlike – she was happy for her teammate – but she was just so instantaneously and viscerally sad. And I just had to let her go through it. All I could tell her was that I knew it sucked for her, but this experience was chiseling and defining her character. She would bring this with her and it would become part of her. It might make her more empathetic and compassionate towards others, it might light a fire to make her realize how much work she wants to put into something, and it will very likely teach her how to weather more disappointment in the future, allowing her to put herself in positions that risk it. And that’s where the true strength lies. When we know we can handle failure, we learn how to really put ourselves out there.

Not everyone puts themselves on the line. We don’t have to. It’s understandable to not want to risk that feeling of caring so much and losing. We all felt it on Sunday and it sucked. But the alternative is not to show up at all. And many people do choose that option. They don’t think they can handle the pain of failure. It’s scary and uncomfortable. But if you know you can face it, go through it, experience it fully without numbing it, and come out the other side ok, that becomes a super power. You learn how to keep showing up and putting yourself on the line – not because you’re confident that you’re going to succeed, but because you’re confident that you can handle the outcome either way. When I looked at the faces of the team Canada hockey players, and my athlete slumped over in tears after her race, I had the same feeling: this experience is forging you. Nobody wants it, no one would choose it, but it is part of the growth of developing into a fearless, confident and compassionate human.

On to tomorrow’s workout – I’ve booked the track! Monarch Track – 6:00 am arrival, 6:15 start. I’ve paid $340 so I’ll just divide by the number of ppl who show up.

People building for Spring marathons!

Sets of 800-600-400 w 75 seconds in bw, 3 min bw sets

Up to 4 sets. The idea is to make them more like a longer set than hard individual reps. These can all be done at around 5K pace – don’t get as fast as we’ve done previous track work. We’re trying to get more volume done at around 5K pace so it’s more of a strength than a speed workout.

People doing Chilly: 1-2 sets.

People racing 5K’s or not pushing the volume: 3 sets.

That is all – see you in the a.m.!

Seanna