A few weeks ago I made a visit to Arkansas where I ran with some, at the time acquaintances, now clients and friends. During one of our longer runs I found us wrapped up in a conversation about labels. To be fair, I knew the views that this group of runners shared before we went out for the run. When we first met to discuss their training goals they were very specific- no mentions on social media, no posting runs to social sites and no mentioning of their names to anyone. This group was dead set on telling me their race goals, keeping them silent and smashing them when it comes to race time. They were challenging themselves to complete a half marathon purely for themselves, nobody else- just them.  While running they reminded me of their views and referred to them as JOMO. The further we went into the run the more I started to appreciate their perspective and began thinking about giving it a shot. Shortly after I made the decision, when I made it to the end of my current training block I would go dark on Strava- no more comparisons to others that ultimately made me lose the sense of accomplishment that I gained by working out.  I wanted to feel like they felt, they came off as relaxed and humble and I was digging it.

As I began thinking about JOMO, I stumbled upon a few more similar acronyms (See below) and thought about the runners that we're working with and how they are approaching their training. Turns out, we have runners in all four of the categories below (plus some others that we won't cover today). None of them right or wrong, we appreciate all of them and understanding their perspective helps us shape their training to ensure we are supporting them in the way that they need to be supported.

Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO): We have a few runners that we're working with that have declared themselves as living FOMO lifestyle. They want to frequently check their Insta, Facebook, What's Ap, Twitter, Be Real, Strava accounts, Text messages and Email. They'll go to the extreme to be sure that they are among the first to repost, comment, like, heart, kudos and respond to messages. There's a special place in my heart for these athletes but just thinking about being that connected makes me a little anxious. For these runners we make sure we satisfy their need for inclusion and stay super connected to them. When we have a chance to praise them publicly we jump on it.

Joy Of Missing Out (JOMO): On the opposite end of the spectrum we have a few runners that fully embrace JOMO. During our intake meetings they were very clear that they don't want any mentions, pictures or direct online references. This group enjoys spending their time doing what they love, not obsessing over what any of their friends (or online acquaintances) are doing.  Their efforts are based on internal desires and while not necessarily introverted, often times do not get net positive value from exposure. When we're working with these runners we absolutely respect their desire for privacy and keep our interactions exclusively one on one.

You Only Live Once (YOLO): These are our adventure seekers, they frequently make requests to get their workouts weeks ahead of time and we often have to work with them to dial back their expectations so that we can avoid overuse injuries. They're signing up for every race they can get to and aren't holding back their effort. These runners have a difficult time differentiating between their races as "A races" or "Training races" because for them, every race is an all out effort, after all- you only live once so why not. When working with this type of runner we hyper invest in explaining how the training methodology works and the importance of recovery. It may take longer but ultimately we land in a place where we respect their desire to push themselves but we structure the annual training plan to give them opportunities to do so on a bigger stage.

Fear Of Joining In (FOJI): This group represents a handful of athletes that we're working with. They are committed to a lifestyle of fitness and knock their workouts back without any nudging from us. They become nervous and anxious when they think about signing up for a race or running with a group. They're worried about being judged, that they may not be as fast or able to run as long as everyone else. When we work with this group we focus on understanding their concerns and easing them into group activities by joining them the first couple of times for a group run or running their race with them. Our check ins are less about their workouts and more about readiness to engage with a running community that is filled with non-judgmental people who are ready to celebrate all movement, where all shapes, sizes and speeds are embraced. We help these runners understand that there is no fast or slow, just various degrees of fast.

There's another group of runners that don't quite fit into these boxes- they're the runners that continue to train the same way cycle after cycle  generally falling short of their goals time and time again. I often hear people say that doing the same thing over and over the same way but expecting a different result is Insanity, but not sure that I agree. I think that sometimes these runners just don't know what they don't know. They don't know that maybe their outcomes aren't necessarily race day effort related. For these runners, we lead our coaching from the heart. Learning that there is another way to train, taking the shot on a different approach after years of the same comfortable approach can be tough. We take our time with these runners and it's typical for them to have the "AHA" moment at some point in their training block- and when that happens, our hearts are filled.

At the end of the day we're all on a journey- some on their way to a start line and some on their way to a finish line. We welcome everyone into the TZC family of athletes. If you're ready to #ShowUp for yourself give working with us a shot- we don't think you'll be disappointed.

Learn more at https://www.TrueZoneCoaching.com