A Warm Hello to You This Holiday Season!

This issue of MastersCoaching features tools and tips for simplifying your holidays. Even as you rush headlong into the peak holiday period, it’s not too late to reduce the stress. The truth is you can choose how you experience the season. Are you rushing around, focused only on your long to-do list? Ask yourself: How do I feel right now? If you feel positive energy and enjoyment, great!  If you feel drained, perhaps you need to minimize stressors so you can enjoy the season.

At MastersCoaching, we’ve been busy dreaming up adventures for 2005. Already on the schedule are two Florida sweep camps -- Sarasota in February and Cocoa Beach in March -- plus an August camp on the Charles River in Cambridge, Mass. There’s an opening on our schedule in June, and, frankly, we would love to bring our signature one-boat-one-coach program to the Midwest or Northwest. Hosting a MastersCoaching clinic is a great way for a club to raise funds. Any interest?

We wish each of you a healthy holiday season and a New Year filled with joy and happiness!

Mayrene

In this issue:

¶      Simplify Your Holiday Season

¶      MastersCoaching Clinics & Camps

¶      Coaching Corner: Your Questions Answered

¶      Erg Inspiration: Power Up Your Workouts in 2005. Sign Up Now!

¶      Fabulous Last-Minute Gift Ideas

¶      Motivational Magic: Quotes to Inspire You

¶      From the Bookshelf: Recommended Reading

SIMPLIFY YOUR HOLIDAY SEASON. HAVE MORE FUN!

We’re deep into the hectic holidays, making now the perfect time to reduce your stress. How do you accomplish this? You have the answers within you. To help you access your own solutions, I’m posing a series of questions and suggestions. Use them as guides to discover what works for you.

1.  How can I streamline and combine tasks? Consider making your training more efficient by combining workouts with work and/or errands. For instance, you could bike to work one day as a way to accomplish an aerobic steady state practice. Would hiring a personal trainer save time designing workouts? Are you hosting a party and not sure when you’ll find time to decorate? Make it a tree-trimming party.

2.  What limits can I set? Re-examining your commitments will give you clarity about how you spend your time. Do you really need to drive the extra 10 miles to work out with your partner every day this month? Could you save time by working out closer to home? Is that sixth workout of the week crucial to your race in August or could you free up that time for shopping or other seasonal activities?

3.  What are my priorities?  Have you scheduled activities you really don’t want or need to do?  Identify your top 5 priorities. Then say no to anything that doesn’t match your list. This eliminates many unwanted  “shoulds” on your list.  I often tell my clients, “Stop shoulding on yourself.”

4.  What can I delegate or re-schedule?  Do you serve on committees at your boat club?  What duties can you delegate -- you know, those tasks you drag your feet on. Have you made commitments that can be postponed to after the holidays? For instance, a boathouse work party scheduled for this month could be accomplished in January.

5.  What is my reward? A job well done (and this includes de-stressing) is best reinforced with a reward. As you succeed in simplifying your holiday season, what will you give yourself? A membership to a club? Chocolate? A winter rowing camp?  Make the reward something you really want. This will keep you focused on your goal of simplifying your life this holiday season.

MastersCoaching Camps & Clinics in 2005

We’re still planning the schedule for 2005, yet already rowers are signing up for MastersCoaching camps and clinics in the New Year. Stay tuned as more camps are developed. Also, we welcome your suggestions for camp venues and fundraising clinics. Every MastersCoaching camp is designed around the needs of just eight rowers, so you received focused and personalized coaching from Mayrene Earle, along with loads of extras and tons of fun. Here’s what’s on the schedule so far for the coming year.

¶      Sarasota, Florida, Feb. 19-21, 2005. Intermediate.

¶      Cocoa Beach, Florida, March 18–22, intermediate, and March 22–26, intermediate/advanced.

¶      Cambridge, Mass., August TBA. Advanced beginner/intermediate and intermediate/advanced.

Coaching Corner: Your Questions Answered

Q.  I row a mixed double with a woman who is about a foot shorter than I am.  How should we rig the boat? 

                        ~ Roger, Wisconsin

A.  I asked Tom Kiefer, MIT’s boatman and a former World and Olympic team rower, to share his wisdom on this question.  Here’s what he said:  I'd hope for equipment limitations such as oar length and spread to point me towards a resolution. If equipment isn't limited in adjustability, then I'd start by finding a basic setup of spreads and inboards that’s similar to their singles setups. Then start fiddling with inboards and spreads to keep them out of each others way. Finally adjust the outboard lengths to get them loaded up the same.

¶ ~  ¶ ~  ¶

Win a Free Coaching Session!  Do you have a question about training or rowing? Send your questions to mayrene@masterscoaching.com. Every month I’ll select a question and award the submitter a free 30-minute coaching session focused on his or her issue. Go ahead, ask. What have you got to lose? While you’re at it, please share your comments and feedback about the MastersCoaching newsletter. What features would you like to see? Do you have information to share with other readers? I love hearing from you, so don’t be shy.

ERG INSPIRATION: Power Up Your Workouts in 2005

Sign Up Now for Coaching, Camaraderie & Support

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.

I invite you to join other rowers for a series of erg coaching sessions by phone. You’ll experience the benefits of professional coaching -- including workout designs, motivation, instruction and feedback – and the support and accountability of other rowers. It’s fun. It’s effective. It’s affordable -- just $10 per session.

Workout Dates and Times (Eastern Time)

• Tuesdays and Thursdays 8:30 - 9:30 am

How It Works

1. Pre-workout check-in: You call in at a designated hour before your workout. During a 5- to 10-minute conference call, I’ll give you coaching tips and encouragement and answer questions and concerns.
2. You spend the next 30 minutes doing your erg workout.
3. Post-workout check-out: You call back and report on your experience. You’ll receive input and encouragement from me and from your virtual workout buddies.
4. Sign up for one session or more. Erg Inspiration is ongoing through the winter. Sessions are limited to 8 rowers.

Sign up by emailing mayrene@masterscoaching.com. Write Erg Workout in the subject line, and indicate the date(s) you wish to join. Include your name, address and phone number. You will receive a phone number to call. Price for each session is $10. Payment by check due prior to the call. Questions? Email me at mayrene@masterscoaching.com.

Fabulous Last-Minute Gift Ideas

If, like me, you haven't finished your Christmas shopping, check out these ideas:

¶      VERMONT SHORTBREAD COMPANY. Deliciously decadent! Great as gifts or as a yummy addition to your own holiday indulgences.  www.elsiesdaughter.com/VT-shortbread.html

¶      BLUEBONNET POTTERY. Gorgeous stoneware pottery, hand-thrown by Master Potters Stephen and Bonnie Todee. Serve your guests on beautiful works of art.  www.bluebonnetpottery.com

¶      HEIFER INTERNATIONAL. Give a sustainable source of food and income and help those in need lift themselves out of hunger and poverty permanently. Gifts include livestock that produce milk, eggs, wool, draft power and fertilizer. Your gift to one family spreads to others as livestock offspring are shared with the village. www.heifer.org

¶      ROWING CLINIC GIFT CERTIFICATE. Give a rower in your life the gift of a MastersCoaching rowing clinic. Simply print out the gift certificate below and write in the amount of your gift. Contact me later at mayrene@masterscoaching.com to arrange payment. Certificates are good toward the purchase of any MastersCoaching camp or clinic (space available).

Motivational Magic: Quotes to Inspire You

¶     "Undertake something that is difficult; it will do you good. Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow."   ~ Ronald E. Osborn

¶     "When defeat comes, accept it as a signal that your plans are not sound, rebuild those plans, and set sail once more toward your coveted goal."   ~ Napoleon Hill

¶     “Your work is to discover your work and then with all your heart to give yourself to it.”  ~ Dhammapada

From the Bookshelf: Recommended Reading

Swimming to Antarctica ,Tales of a Long-Distance Swimmer, Lynne Cox. This gripping book reveals what drives a world- class athlete to reach seemingly impossible goals.

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. I will never sell, trade or give your information to anyone, at anytime, period! If you do not wish to receive future issues, email mayrene@masterscoaching.com and write “UNSUBSCRIBE” in the subject line.  

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