Tuesday, February 23, 2026 – Bravely facing loss

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