Walk
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By Judy Heller

Judy Heller, founder of
Wonders of Walking LLC,
advocates walking for well being and pleasure. Wonders of Walking promotes Walking Events for Walkers by Walkers. Judy Heller is founder and owner of EroFit & Associates, LLC, celebrating Fitness for a Lifetime. Heller offers personalized fitness training and coaching for individuals and groups.
Contact: Judy Heller
at 503-282-1677:
email judy@erofit.com
jheller@wondersofwalking.com

Also visit: www.erofit.com
www.wondersofwalking.com

I only went out
for a walk and
concluded to stay out until sundown,
For going out,
I found
Was really going in.

— John Muir

What Is Coaching?

I’m often asked, what is coaching? What is it that you do?

The roles my clients have described for me include: instructor, assessor, friend, mentor, facilitator, demonstrator, advisor, supporter, fact-finder, motivator, counselor, organizer, planner, and resource.

It’s true; at various times I — and every other coach — am all these things. It’s a balance we strike by understanding that coaching is a combination of science and art.

Today’s science offers more research related to sports and fitness, health, and well-being. These studies support the coach and client in making decisions in all areas, including nutrition, biomechanics, psychology, physiology, and medicine.

The art of coaching comes when the coach analyzes the scientific data and then converts it into training programs designed to help the client achieve the lifestyle changes necessary for improved fitness and quality of life. This process relies heavily upon the coach’s experience and knowledge, as well as the ability to listen and communicate with the client.

Fitness coaching is more general than athletic coaching, which tends to be more single-goal oriented. Fitness coaching focuses on numerous aspects in the client’s life, not just sports. Making lifestyle changes takes time, and these new goals are not achieved over night. A coach provides insight and empowerment to help a client succeed.

As a coach, I work with amazing individuals. I learn from my clients as much as they learn from me. Although I specialize in walking and racewalking, my clients come from all walks of life. With my clients, I celebrate each accomplishment and also share the disappointment when they fall short of their aspirations.

We are bound by our humanness, and sports provides lessons for learning and living life.

About a year ago, I was reminded of why we should shoot for the stars by three remarkable women who shared the unified focus to racewalk 50k (31 mi) at a judged international meet held in California.

Judging would be strict: My personal goal was that they not be disqualified, so I devised a training program to ensure that each step was technically correct.

A racewalk course is flat, just a 2500 m loop that each participant circles 25 times in a 50k. However, that kind of repetition is emotionally, as well as physically, grueling, so I added arduous circuit work to their regimen. Among my other coaching decisions, “no headphones” was the biggest sacrifice one of the walkers had to endure. To succeed in this event, I explained she needed to listen to her body as well as her mind.

These women, Annmarie Bruning, Sandy Coila, and Margaret McGuinness, were dogged in following their training plan. They remained focused despite injury, illness, the rigors of training, and an unseasonably cold autumn where they slogged through rain, sleet, wind, and ice, always striving to keep their form.

I don’t think I can describe the mental focus I witnessed as they walked their loops. They came to each training session with an “I can do this today” attitude. Their determination never wavered, although we did have to work through the impact their everyday lives — jobs, families, other stressors — had on their ultimate goal.

On race day, these three women arrived at the course in Chula Vista ready to compete. Each one had a different outcome, and you can read their story The Long Walk.

No matter the outcome, each woman is a winner because she achieved an incredibly challenging goal, learning much about herself, and her friends, in the process.

As a coach for sports or lifestyle, I believe if we learn something, we cannot fail; people should be set up for success, take the steps necessary to build upon, do the work, learn what works and what doesn’t, be flexible, and have fun. All my clients are ultimately winners, because they are tackling the habit of the life they have lived — one that is not necessarily healthful or balanced — and trying to create a new lifestyle that focuses on their life as they would like it to be: Healthy, fit, and fun, a life filled with achievements, whether physical, emotional, mental, or spiritual.