Surrounding yourself with the right people and Cherry Blossom Recap

I think one of the major changes in my life over the past several years is surrounding myself more and more with a positive group of people who make me a better person.  A few years ago, I read an article and I have seen more and more of them popping up lately talking about how some of the most successful people in the world attribute a lot of their success and ideas to having a group of people around them that encourage them, promote them and just make them better each day.  An entourage if you must say, which is a great show also.  For most of my life I think I used to take that for granted and sometimes even just ignore when people would say “Great job Nick” when I accomplished something that didn’t seem significant to me.  I think we all have huge goals for ourselves and we feel like achieving them are the only ways sometimes we feel validated but over the past few years having people in my life who support me day in and out with positivity and supporting feedback I think has lead me to an overall better place in my life.

I never thought it mattered who I surrounded myself with on a daily basis when I was younger but as I have grown up into my 30’s I realized who I allow into my life to influence me is a very important decision.  Too often we let people into our inner circle or close group without truly realizing how they may be affecting our lives, sometimes in a negative manner.  Ridding yourselves of toxic people who aren’t there for your best interests, who aren’t there to support you, who are just there for themselves can have a huge impact on your success and general well-being.  In the end you are the sum of who you spend your time with. Make sure that those are people who lift you, inspire you, and motivate you to do and be more. And even as you grow up you might change friends but that’s just part of life.  In the end trust that the hard work, positivity, and keeping your sights high are things you can’t risk deviating from if you want the life you dream of.

My latest race was the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler on April 8^th, and it was my first time running this race although I have spectated it on numerous occasions.  The weather forecast called for really cold conditions but my training was really solid and I felt great.  I decided to sleep in my own bed the night before and ride down with some friends the morning of, which turned out to be quite easy thanks to some secret parking locations from the always clutch Pete Mulligan.  We grabbed a quick warmup and wore way more clothing then I figured I’d ever be wearing for an April race and jogged over to the start.  Due to people lining up way to early it involved a good deal of pushing through people to make it towards the front area but finally made it before the gun went off but being 30 minutes after my warmup I was barely warm anymore.  So off we went and I tried to be pretty calm and follow coach’s advice and settle in a little slower for the first mile and smile often!  So I let a lot of competitors I know go and settled in and rolled through the first mile in 5:28, after that mile the little pack I was in started to break off and 3 people surged ahead so I followed them for the next 3 miles and rolled into some solid splits 16:48 through the 5k 21:35 for 4 miles but then fell off that pack a little as we rolled through 5 miles and I came across in 27:04, which was right where I wanted to be halfway through a 10 miler.

However, as I continued I just never felt like I ever got in a good groove and after 5 I let my mind wander for a little bit taking in a bit too much of the scenery and not focusing enough on the grueling task at hand as the pack ahead of me started to gap me by a wide margin.  I ran by some of my friends who took time out of their morning to come down and cheer in the cold and I snapped out of it and tried to get moving again to catch that pack, coming through 10k in 33:41, which is my fastest 10k since 2002!  Right after 10k my teammate Maxime caught up to me, while wearing headphones of course and got me to go with him.  For 2 miles we ran together but I could not find a consistent pace, we’d run stride for stride but then I’d chop up my strides and fall back only having to surge again to catch up.  Right around 6.5 my hamstring started to tightened up and I could feel me having to adjust my stride, but with 3.5 to go I was not going to let that ruin my day.

Around 8 Maxime started to pull away and again I was left to my own devices to get to the finish line, 2 people rolled past me during the last 2 miles and both times I took the energy I had to go with them for as long as I could but my pace was slowing.  My slowest two miles were my last two 5:36 and 5:42, the last mile is basically the only uphill mile on the entire course.  I worked really hard getting up that hill knowing I was siphoning time that I spent the first 8 miles earning at this point.  As I saw the clock I knew a PR was in the cards and I pushed hard into the finish line closing in on 54:44 a 14 second PR.  As I look back I think I know I left some time out there but ultimately on a day where things didn’t go perfectly to be able to still PR and run tough is a big win.  I took some time to celebrate with my teammates who all accomplished many great things that day themselves and then we hit up some DC breakfast and headed home.  On the road to NJ Half Marathon this 10-mile PR was a good stepping stone and with a couple weeks left I am feeling more confident than ever to go after a shiny new half PR on 28 April.

So I got a Coach, but how did I get there.

One of the big changes I made at the end of 2017 was hiring a coach and I figured it was a good topic to share my thoughts on and the steps I took to make sure I made the right choice for me (which is the most important factor).  As a runner I spent High School and College with two coaches who I really believed in and trusted their methods and they both got me to succeed ultimately.  I may have under-performed but that’s better saved for a future blog post about things I’d tell my former self.  But to stay on topic for those 7 years I followed the plans laid out in front of me and enjoyed having a coach there watching practice to give feedback.  It was much less stressful to have the workouts already figured out and my only job was to hit the times given by my coach.  So, after my 8 year hiatus I came back not having that luxury any longer so I started self-coaching myself.  Over the past 5 years I had some success.  I was fortunate to learn a lot from fellow runners on workouts and training goals while also reading blogs online to figure out different things. I then followed and executed a plan pretty perfectly for my first 50 miler.  But there was always something missing for me, sure I had friends who would sometimes give feedback like “WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING, YOU’RE GOING TO GET HURT”, but we are runners and we are stubborn.  In 2016 and 2017 the big issue that came to haunt me as the year dragged on was the much-needed feedback loop.  I struggled on two ends with that, on one end I was doing too much and not getting the needed feedback to calm down and secondly, I was sometimes doing workouts and when I hit paces I wasn’t sure if I was running a good pace and should be satisfied or too fast and I should be worried (Not all runners have this issue).  To be fair the second issue came more about after my burn out post Boston where I started second guessing everything.  So, in November of 2017 I reached out and hired Coach David Roche (Swaprunning.com), but the story doesn’t start there.  Let’s get into how I ultimately choose him and then get into why a coach is helpful for me (and might be for you).

Ultimately finding a coach is a pretty big decision that shouldn’t be taken lightly.  I mean let’s start with the obvious that you are paying for this service but on top of that you are putting a lot of your goals/training in the hands of someone else.  Obviously, we still need to run the race, but we need to trust the process, workouts, and above all else our coach to stay positive to achieve the goals.  Finding David was not something I just stumbled upon, back in 2016 while listening to Ultra Runner Podcast (100% listen to this podcast it is amazing), I heard David come on as a guest and explain his training philosophy.  Basically how he makes his runners take 1 easy day, builds in strides/pickups into runs to keep speed going, 1 workout day and a long run, how he emphasis’s the process not the end result and he spoke with such positivity about it all, it was a great interview I thought.  I ended the podcast thinking that David really shared similar views with me on training (although I failed often to do a lot of these things in my plans).  But for me, my 2016 continued and I was running great so I stuck with doing it alone.  However as 2016 started coming to an end I really dug myself into a hole for JFK50 thinking I needed to overdo it because you know 50 miles.  Instead of sticking to the views I heard from David that I also shared I went overboard and ran myself into an injury and then burnout.  In 2017 I stumbled upon David on twitter and was amazed by how supportive and positive he was about all the athletes he coaches or just others in the sport.  I get it, he’s a coach and he has to be somewhat civil but the level of gratitude and positive energy he showed everyone was amazing.  I then stumbled upon his articles on trail running magazine and once again I just respected his views and they once again aligned with mine. 

So in November before ultimately hurting myself again I finally reached out to David to inquire about coaching services and unlike what I heard from other runner’s experiences with coaches, he didn’t immediately just accept me.  We started with a candid back and forth dialogue where he asked me 5 questions about running and we had a pretty lengthy email chain back and forth on my answers and his coaching style (Like a match maker test!).  His goal wasn’t to just find someone else to pay, he wanted to make sure that we were a good fit.  He explained that his style might a little might be a little different than I was used to (1 rest day every week, time-based workouts, time-based runs) and it was important that I was able to train this way.  His ultimate goal along with mine was to make sure we were on the same page, so he could help me achieve my goals.  I appreciated this and once I joined I was blown away at the community his wife and him have created.  SWAP is an amazing community of runners across the world that support each other with such positivity.  It’s more than just athletes who have the same paid coach, they have really created a place for all of us to motivate one another.  David’s goal was to put us together to share our journeys as a group and his passion is felt thorough out every post he makes.  He even puts out a weekly Race Recap for everyone who ran one over the weekend. 

So that’s how I found David, but let’s get into the factors that mattered to me in my decision:

1.  Above all else finding someone that fits with me was most important.  A coach won’t just make you faster, the trust has to go both ways. 
2. Coming from HS/College with a coach with me everyday I wanted some level of feedback.  The Feedback loop is what matters to me, and David offers feedback daily for my runs.  Even if it’s sometimes just a simple “Outstanding run, you are doing great”.  For me personally I know he is reading it, he knows everything going on with me and no harm can come from some positivity.
3. A plan that adapts.  Anyone can go online and grab a training plan for free, but that plan is basically thrown out of the window after the first week when you need to adapt because of this tweak of a muscle, or this real-life issue.  This also matters to me because as real life crept in I had less and less time to figure out workouts, runs, a plan each week. 
4. Honesty, I need the truth.  About 5 weeks in having him as my coach my hamstring injury came back really badly on a LR and I mentioned it in my log.  David immediately changed my plan added in a week off and made the recommendation of based on the goal I want to hit and after some downtime I’d only have 3 weeks to train and it’s risky to go after my goal race.  He obviously said he’d support me either way but the truth was after getting hurt I kind of thought there was no time so thanks to his honesty I knew it was the right call.  Without a coach I’d probably have pushed through who knows how much more hurt I would have gotten and if I would have still be hurt today.  Starting the healing clock at this point allowed me to be running pain free in Mid-December.
5. Availability, David offers up for emergencies a way to contact him if I need advice/decisions/etc.
6. David supports a mindset of enjoying everything, enjoying the process.  His website is called Some Work All Play (SWAP), his Instagram is full of fun times with his dog.  He embraces life and loves running.  As I mentioned earlier this type of energy rubs off (it’s contagious) and I love seeing it every day in his comments on my runs.
7. Lastly, while he coaches some of the best runners in the world he never makes me feel like I don’t matter because I’m not a pro sponsored athlete.  I’ve never felt like my goals don’t matter to him, like my time isn’t important.  And you can see that everyday from his twitter as he constantly mentions how all his athletes are doing like a proud father.

After all this and several months later I am still so happy with my decision.  Obviously hiring a coach isn’t for everyone, some people feel they are better writing their own plans or don’t think they could listen to someone else.  I’ll tell you though a good coach cares more about what you want to get out of running then their plan.  David’s goal is not to write me a plan and have me not follow it, it benefits neither of us and isn’t worth either of our time.  The hard part of hiring a coach is putting that trust of the plan to reach your goals in someone else’s hands, which is why I say it’s important decision not to be taken lightly.  Ultimately, we are a team and if I disagree David will work with me but that goes back to trusting one another.  For many of the reasons I mentioned above and lastly just having someone to offer me feedback that I trust (runners are stubborn) having a coach really helped me just focus on the running and less on all the other stuff that took up my time.

I hope this article was helpful/insightful, especially if you have ever entertained the idea of a coach.  If you have any questions don’t hesitate to each out.

My 2017 and Some Pre-Boston Thoughts

My 2017 started off amazing, I now have a new member of my family my amazing beautiful daughter Chloe Anne Klastava and she is my world. I'm a Dad!  Being beat down and injured post JFK it became easy to shift my focus on her but finally in early January I decided to get some help in the form of Physical Therapy for my left hip issue.  As I’ve written about in great length it was the best decision I made to get my 2017 going in the right direction. Before I began PT in mid-January I was ready to toss in the towel for Boston, heck I was 14 weeks out, couldn’t run without significant pain, was doing almost no mileage and I had no way out of this vicious cycle.  But something clicked, PT was fun and my Physical Therapist Stacie was super helpful and engaging and gave me so many amazing ways to strengthen my glutes and get rid of the pain.   It was a slow struggle back, the rest of my January consisted of light mileage and no workouts and I didn’t really start getting in any consistent weeks until Mid-February.  But then something clicked, I started getting in some quality long runs with a good group of Falls Road teammates, I started getting in some workouts and I had a solid Club Challenge 10 Miler.  In March I got in some solid workouts leading up to Shamrock 5k and ran my 2^nd best 5k ever and then took on the toughest race I have ever run, HAT 50k.

In previous years I always targeted a half marathon 4 weeks away from a Marathon, well this year I did the opposite and targeted a 50k (31 miles) as my race 4 weeks out thinking the longer distance and time on my feet would be helpful.  HAT was tough, hilly, and full of technical trails on a hot day.  I ran 1 solid loop and was in the hurt box for the entire second 13.5 mile loop.  But alas that is Ultra running, you vs yourself going to the darkest places you thought were only made up.  I still feel like a champ for winning the battle against my mind that day and managed to finish 3^rd overall.  And then we were on the home stretch only my body was broke down.  Since HAT I’ve basically just done a bunch of easy runs and a long run or two but almost nothing hard.  I’ve basically aired on the side of utmost caution because of how I broke myself down leading up to JFK and here we are 6 days away from the race.

I get asked everyday how I am feeling, how is my training going into Boston and it’s weird I don’t know how to explain it.  I basically respond with "It’s a mixed bag" because this cycle has been unlike any I have ever had.  I spent 4-5 weeks of it getting healthy so I could manage a full workload.  I then found my fitness from last year pretty quickly and put together some good races and then I did HAT and it broke me a little.  I’ve hit none of my key workouts, I haven’t done a ton of workouts in general and I’ve done no Marathon Pace work,  but I have rocked 5 20+ mile long runs and got in some consistent weeks in the middle.   Three years ago if you would have asked me how I felt after that type of training cycle I would have told you I am going to bomb this race, but that’s not me anymore.  I have this aura of positivity around me that I keep trying to push on others, because I believe it to be the key to some of my success.  I also acknowledge that I am here 15 weeks later with 6 days to race, I have done the work that I could fit in and now there is nothing left but to leave it all out there.  I don’t want my mental mind to convince me I can’t achieve a goal I set.  I am going to achieve my goal or close to it on Marathon Monday or I am going to go down in flames and reach a new level of suffering.  But I will believe in myself, I believe that I did all I could this training cycle and for once in my life I trained smart and was careful instead of continuing to push that line we all struggle with as runners.  And hopefully come Monday that will be the difference.

I guess my last bit of advice for anyone who made it this far is to just believe in yourself and your training.  You have done the work for many weeks, don’t compare yourself to previous versions of yourself and convince yourself you are not capable of meeting the goals you set.  Past Nick Klastava was a very different person full of many faults and insecurities that I have navigated past.  I don’t care what I ran in a half in 2014 leading up to Boston, I care about all the training I have done the past 3 years and all the work I have done this year to put the best version of myself on the line on 17 April.  Marathon Monday is a special day, most of us experience crowds and an atmosphere we are never used to.  Special things happen that day, so don’t doubt yourself now.  Get to the line with confidence and see what happens and then post-race you can come back and evaluate what went wrong/right.  That’s what I will do.

Lastly, I love this quote from Jenny Simpson and it’s going to be my mantra on Marathon Monday “Sometimes being in a dark place is part of navigating those troubled waters.  When you come out on the other side, you just know more about yourself and you know more about what you’re capable of.”