Microcosm Coaching Team Call 09/02/2022:

First, I apologize for the length of this call. I know it’s a bit longer than usual, but this was a big topic with many facets and nuances to touch on.

Ok, so this week's call is an attempt at illustrating the long-term process involved in working toward big goals through the lens of my race at UTMB CCC. For those of you not familiar, this is essentially the world championship of 100km mountain running, with 62 miles and 20,000 feet of vertical gain. It’s set in the most iconic location for mountain sports in the world, Chamonix, France.

On this call, Coach Zoë and I take the team through the four year process of preparing for the event, through my recent build, UTMB week and talk a bit about the race too.

There are a lot of great takeaways here, but the main points I want athletes to think about surround our timelines for big goals, the ever elusive balance between work, life and training- that is worth striving for balance but only when you have the understanding that it will never truly be perfect, and that you’re capable of more than you believe, even in the face of a lot of information that might tell you differently.

I hope by talking a bit about my experience at CCC we can further diminish some of the stigma around the incorrect logic that bad days and not hitting performance or outcome related goals on race day are the same thing as failure. They are not.

I also want to diminish the stigma around how races are supposed to go even after incredible builds and great preparation. The course and the day don’t owe us anything and therefore it’s important to remember and emphasize the overall journey. As I mentioned in the call, I had one of the best, most fun builds leading up to CCC and that experience only helps to further fuel everything that will come after this. A good build should help feed your stoke-  when it does you know your goals are truly in alignment with your values and WHY and you’ve created the intrinsic environment necessary for reaching that finish line.

I hope you enjoy this episode and as usual, if you have any feedback, a question for a future call or are looking for support in your running journey, please visit us on the web at microcosm-coaching.com or contact us at [email protected]