Getting Off the Couch and Coached

I first started running at 15. I didn't start for any of the usual reasons: I had a fast metabolism and living in the country side had to walk or cycle everywhere anyway. At the time I thought I was in shape, of course I was fit. Wasn't I one of the best in the class at the bleep test?

The reason I started running was for our dog. Which is as good a reason as any. See you have to start somehow. So whether it's to fit back into your wedding dress, see more of the countryside, save yourself from a heart attack or just keep your canine pals toenails from getting too long... just get out there and start.

So it started out as a means to keep our German Shepard active, fast forward one month and I had graduated from running up and down our yard (about 50m in length) to running an entire mile. I ran everywhere, thinking I was just about the fittest person I knew.

The neighbors spotted me barreling up and down the road heaving like a rhinoceros and suggested I join the local athletics club. So I did. As a fifteen year old, I was not ready for all those men in Lycra and I was decidedly disturbed by the whole thing. But I kept going, determined to be the best that I could be. I was the only person my age, everyone else was either three years younger or about twenty years older. At first, that was harder than the running. I soon realised that a mile a day was nothing.

I had presumed I knew how to get myself fit. At first, I barely listened. I went along to sessions, refused to take a day off during the week and ran on the road. I ended up coming second last in the county track championships. Beating only a girl with asthma and a hearing aid.

So I started to listen to the coaches and soon was taken under the wing of Sean Finn. Sean could have been any coach. The thing was that I was listening to advice, because lets face it when it comes to pushing ourselves we normally do too much or too little or a mixture of both. It's hard to get the balance right.

Simply by doing what I was told, and listening to my body... I went from last in the counties to county champion in the space of three months. I went to the All Irelands and didn't just run, but competed for both Munster and Tipperary...fast forward a few years later (including all-ireland medals and munster titles) and I won a sports scholarship to the states.

So you might wonder where this is all going... basically you don't know what you're capable of until you get off the couch and just try it. For whatever reason. Once you've done that you need to get a coach. Because no matter how much you think you know, you can always learn. 

Bodycoach is here to help you change your life, to give you the coaching you need to get the best out of your body.