Happy New Year!

This first issue of MastersCoaching in 2003 features an old favorite — your New Year’s Resolutions. Uh oh. What’s that I hear? Groaning, whining and complaining? I don't blame you. So often, our good intentions to create healthy new habits quickly fade, and we end up feeling bad about ourselves. Who needs that? To help you avoid that trap, this issue offers strategies drawn from the wisdom of both athletic coaching and life coaching. You can use them to create positive change both on and off the water.

You’ll also find two great opportunities for masters rowers. Read on to learn more about new erg tele-coaching sessions (affordable, effective and fun!). And don’t miss the invitation to participate in Row Cocoa Beach, a rowing camp for intermediate level masters women.

Here’s to your Fresh Start in 2003!

Mayrene

In this issue:

¶      Erg Inspiration: Coaching by Phone for More Effective Workouts

¶      Fresh Start: Make Your Resolutions Stick

¶      Row Cocoa Beach! MastersCoaching Rowing Camp for Women

¶      Mayrene’s Toolbox: Erg Training Tips You Can Use

¶      Motivational Magic: Quotes to Inspire You

¶      From the Bookshelf: Recommended Reading

ERG INSPIRATION: For More Effective Workouts

Does this sound familiar?

• You can't find the time or motivation to work out today.
• You’ve been doing the same erg workouts for years and don’t know how to design new ones.
• You feel you’d benefit from the support of a work-out “buddy,” but you don't belong to a club.

Want help? I invite you to join me and other rowers for a series of erg tele-coaching sessions. You’ll experience the benefits of professional coaching -- including workout designs, motivation, instruction and feedback -- as well as the support and accountability of other rowers to keep you on course. The cost is only $10 per session.

Here’s how it works.

1. Once you sign up for your Erg Inspiration Workout, you’ll receive an ergometer workout and a phone number to call for check-in and check-out calls.
2. Check-In Call: At the top of the designated hour, you receive coaching tips and encouragement as well as answers to your questions and concerns during a 5- to 10-minute conference call. (Be sure to stretch and warm up before the call.)
3. We hang up, then you spend the next 20 minutes doing your erg workout.
4. Check-Out Call: At 10 minutes before the next hour, call back and tell your coach and virtual workout buddies how the workout went. Receive input and encouragement from your coach and fellow rowers.

Workout Dates and Times (All times are Eastern Standard Time.)

·         Wednesday, February 12  —  6-7 a.m.; 12-1 p.m.,  and 8-9 p.m.

·         Wednesday, February 19  —  6-7 a.m.; 12-1 p.m.,  and 8-9 p.m.

·         Wednesday, February 29  —  6-7 a.m.; 12-1 p.m.,  and 8-9 p.m.

            THE FINE PRINT

• You can sign up for one date or all three. You are offered a choice of three workout times on each date.
• To sign up, simply email mayrene@masterscoaching.com. Write Erg Workout in the subject line, and indicate the date(s) and times of the calls you want to join. Please include your name, address and phone number.
• You will receive an email confirmation with the bridge phone number to call. Your phone costs will be the usual costs per minute charged by your long distance carrier. There are no additional phone charges.
• Each session is limited to 8 rowers per call. Cost for each session is $10. Payment by check due at the time of the call.
• Feel free to email me with questions at mayrene@masterscoaching.com.

Fresh Start: Make Your Resolutions Stick

What is it that, every January like clockwork, convinces us that this will be the year we make good on our New Year’s Resolutions? Ambitious rowers set super-aggressive training goals. The disorganized vow to take control of their desks. The unfit purchase health club memberships in droves. Yet the reality is that New Year’s Resolutions often don’t work. Why? Your goals may be too vague, too numerous or just plain unrealistic. (Tip: Apply the KISS principle: Keep It Simple, Silly.) Sometimes resolutions become a way to blame yourself for the past. (Tip: Be kind to yourself.)

Before I provide a few tactics for staying on track with an ever-popular resolution, I want to share a life coaching strategy that can set you up for success in all your life goals. Then I’ll suggest a way to adapt it to your rowing workouts.

Ready? . . .  Go!

Just Do Less. This strategy is about liberating yourself by clearing out mental clutter. The beauty of this approach is that it asks you to do less, not more. This allows you to strive less, sustain healthier habits and appreciate life more. Why not give it a try?

1.        Make a list of the un-done projects, chores, goals and other unfinished business that sap your mental energy, keep you from feeling good about your accomplishments and threaten to lower your self-esteem. (In life coaching jargon, these are called tolerations.)

2.       Resolve to eliminate at least one of these items from your mental to-do list. (More than one would be great!) Maybe you can drop the project or task altogether, delegate it, hire someone to handle it or take care of it right now. This should feel good, like getting rid of old clothes you never wear.

3.       Now take advantage of the mental space this frees up. It’s all yours! Use it to focus on your strengths, your joys and cultivating positive habits for yourself. Do something you love!

    Clear Out Your Practice Clutter. You can use a similar strategy to boost your workouts.

1.        Next time you work out, make a mental note of the non-rowing concerns that clutter your mind. Maybe you’re rehashing a disagreement you had with a colleague, planning ahead for a board meeting, deciding what to cook for dinner, etc. Perhaps you’re busy noticing that the person next to you is pulling better splits than you today.

2.       Pay attention to the effects of this distraction. Are you focused on your workout? Are you doing your best? Do long periods go by when you’re not in the present at all? Are you having fun? Wasting time?

3.       Before your next workout, resolve to leave your outside world where it belongs — outside! Focus on your practice one stroke at a time. When your attention wanders, bring it back to what you’re doing. How does that feel? Are your results the same, better or worse?

4.       How about this for a resolution? “During workouts, I will keep the rest of my world out of the gym.” Doesn’t it feel great to make workout time all yours?

Now, about that New Year’s resolution . . .

Training in 2003. If you resolved to re-dedicate yourself to regular training in the New Year, you’re off to a strong start. Our intentions are a powerful force for positive change. Have you thought about what you will do differently this year? What’s going to keep you on track? Here are 4 tips:

1.        Set realistic and measurable training goals. It’s better to surpass your goals and feel like a winner than to aim too high and feel like a failure when you miss. (For more on goal-setting strategies, go to www.masterscoaching.com/articles/GoalSetting.htm.)

2.       Make it fun. Design workouts that include cross-training activities you enjoy. Sustain your interest in your erg workouts by varying stroke ratings, distance and intensity. Try training in the "watts" mode.

3.       Be efficient. Trim your workout time by focusing on quality not quantity. Have a standard warm-up and keep records of heart rate, splits and watts, so you can work on specific targets. This allows you to receive maximum benefits AND chart your progress.

4.       If you fall off the training wagon, identify what led you astray. Are you trying too hard? Comparing yourself to someone else, rather than training at your own level? Be gentle with yourself, then simply start again.

Row Cocoa Beach! MastersCoaching Rowing Camp for Women

¶ Immerse yourself in rowing with a small group of like-minded rowers ¶

March 22 - 26, 2003

What:       Four-day rowing camp for intermediate level masters women (ages 27 and up). With personalized coaching from Mayrene Earle, six-time New England Collegiate Coach of the Year, and expert coxing by a former NEMAC MVP. Row with new friends. Gain confidence. Improve your technique.

Where:   Cocoa Beach, Florida.

Price:     $600 per person. Includes double occupancy accommodations for 4 nights; souvenir hat; logbook; video analysis; written evaluations; training handouts; instruction on weight training, rigging and training programs; welcome poolside pizza party, and loads of camaraderie, laughs and spontaneous fun.

Lodging:  Comfort Inn & Suites Cocoa Beach. Amenities include: pool, kitchenettes, beach rights and Jacuzzi.

Registration Deadline:  February 15, 2003. Space is limited to nine intermediate level rowers.

Deposit:  $250 due at registration. (Deposit is nonrefundable but may be transferred). Balance due by March 8, 2003

Contact: To register, or for more information, email mayrene@masterscoaching.com or call (508) 896-0076. References from previous campers provided on request.

Mayrene’s Toolbox: ERG Training Tips You Can Use

¶      Keep It Lively. Alleviate boredom by designing erg workouts that require rate changes within each piece. This also allows you to practice sprinting and settling after a start.

¶      The Right Rate. When you take the rate up, instead of increasing your slide speed on the recovery, practice taking it up into and out of the finish. That way, you establish a new rhythm and eliminate rush on the recovery. When you take the rating down, instead of taking it down “through the water” (keeping the slide speed the same and getting “soft”), practice slowing the rating down as the hands pass over the knees on the recovery.

Motivational Magic: Quotes to Inspire You

¶      “We could all use a little coaching.  When you're playing the game, it's hard to think of everything. “  ~ Jim Rohn, motivational coach

¶      “Our goals can only be reached through a vehicle of a plan, in which we must fervently believe, and upon which we must vigorously act. There is no other route to success.”  ~ Stephen A. Brennan, American basketball coach

¶      "It's the things that pushed you the most, that helped you the most." ~ Jim Loehr, performance psychologist

From the Bookshelf: Recommended Reading

Rowing Against The Current, by Barry Strauss

“Strauss, a classics professor, writes about the unanticipated delights of an affair that, like so many others begins as a casual dalliance and develops into a full blown obsession.”

It's Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life, by Lance Armstrong, Sally Jenkins (contributor)

“This is the story of one man's journey through triumph, tragedy, transformation, and transcendence. It is the story of Lance Armstrong, the world-famous cyclist, and his fight against cancer.”

Fish! A Remarkable Way to Boost Morale and Improve Results, by Stephen C. Lundin, Harry Paul, John Christensen

“A powerful parable that will help you love the work you do – even if you can’t always do the work that you love.”

Mayrene T. Earle, M.Ed.

Rowing¶Life Coach

“Empowering individuals through the sport of rowing.”

Founder: masterscoaching.com

phone: (508) 896-0076

email: mayrene@masterscoaching.com

Please forward this newsletter to friends, teammates and colleagues. Be assured, I will never sell, trade or give your information to anyone, at anytime, period! If you do not wish to receive future editions of MastersCoaching, email mayrene@masterscoaching.com and write “UNSUBSCRIBE” in the subject line.

 

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