Ethel B. is a great runner. This statement has nothing to do with speed or podiums. It has to do with achieving her goals. They range from 5K to 100 miles, including completing the Abbott World Marathon Majors 6-Star circuit.
I started working with Ethel when she was halfway through. I trained her to finish London 2023 within seconds of a PR. Tokyo and Boston 2024, within 6 weeks of each other, would complete the journey. We started focused work around November, but in December, Ethel tripped and broke a toe. Deferring for the 2025 year was not an option since both entries were charity-related, and they did not admit postponement. So, we proceeded with what we had available.
When the podiatrist gave us the OK, around mid-January, we relied on Ethel’s superb fitness to restart the training. The new goal was just to finish. Injury-free. So, there would be no speed work. This was uncharted territory both for Ethel as a runner and for me as a coach. We worked it run by run. Depending on how it went today, we planned what to do tomorrow. If the long run was successful, we started thinking about next week. Sure, there were setbacks, but we worked through them and overcame them.