I wish I would’ve enjoyed highschool more, and been more patient with training.
None of it really mattered when it comes down to it. I’d get so mad when workouts or races went badly, and “important” races would be stuck on my mind the entire week before the fact. I ended up having a big injury at the end of senior year that had me out so long it hit the reset button. 7:45 pace would push my heart rate into the high 170s-low 180s.
The first thing my college coach said to me in person was something along the lines of, “CopperRunner, I don’t care what your PRs were in highschool. I care about how hard you are willing to work over these next few months and what that’ll produce for indoors and outdoors.”
Now I walk away from workouts and races saying “that’s what I had today. Because of the work I put in today I will be better next time” and leave it at that, despite being a lot more advanced and competitive. I think this significantly helps my mental health.