My name is Isabelle Kennedy. I am a 5th year grad student at Boston College, a member of BC’s Cross Country and Track and Field teams, and a Cross Country captain.
I sought out M.O.V.E.! during my most recent injury, a sacral stress fracture. This was my third consecutive stress fracture, and my enthusiasm and motivation for cross training were waning after such a long period of cross training without my regular running goals to focus on.
I knew Cathy from her time working on the Runner in Red writing project (a contest to motivate female runners to express what they loved about running) with our team. I often ran into her at the BC pool while she was coaching, and one day I asked her if she might be able to give me some tips on my lap swimming, so we set up a time to meet for M.O.V.E.! I have Cystic Fibrosis, a chronic lung disease, and I have often relied on the excellent cardiovascular workout of running to help maintain my lung health, so when became injured I turned to swimming as a way to try to maintain my lung strength.
Cathy helped not only with my swimming form, but also with setting some goals for swimming, which gave me a more immediate purpose to focus on with my cross training. In December of 2018 we did a 500 m time trial in the pool (the longest continuous effort I had ever done!) and I clocked a time of 8:53. My C Goal was to cut the time down to 8:46-8:59, by B goal was 8:43-8:46, and my A goal was 8:40-8:43.
After about 5 weeks of swim workouts and form training, we repeated the time trial at the end of January 2019, and I was able to swim 8:09! It was such a good feeling after taking so much time off with these injuries to succeed in making an athletic goal. For many of us who are competitive athletes, we relish the feeling of competing and striving for our goals, and it can be disorienting and discouraging when, during periods of injury, our regular competitive goals seem out of reach.
For me, after a year and a half away from racing competitively, it was such a good feeling to have the validation and excitement that comes with setting a P.R., and it felt great to see how much I had achieved. In my experience, it can be hard to see how the work you do while cross training is paying off, but quantifying my progress and setting this P.R. made me feel like an athlete again.
I credit my success in surpassing my goals to the M.O.V.E.! method, which focuses on both the mental and physical aspects of sport. Cathy filmed my swimming a number of times, which made it easy for me to see how I could improve my form, and the goal setting we did motivated me to get out the door and go to the pool to get the work done. The satisfaction of working towards a goal and making progress is one of the things I love about being an athlete, and this experience showed me that this feeling does not have to stop when I experience injuries and setbacks.
I sought out M.O.V.E.! during my most recent injury, a sacral stress fracture. This was my third consecutive stress fracture, and my enthusiasm and motivation for cross training were waning after such a long period of cross training without my regular running goals to focus on.
I knew Cathy from her time working on the Runner in Red writing project (a contest to motivate female runners to express what they loved about running) with our team. I often ran into her at the BC pool while she was coaching, and one day I asked her if she might be able to give me some tips on my lap swimming, so we set up a time to meet for M.O.V.E.! I have Cystic Fibrosis, a chronic lung disease, and I have often relied on the excellent cardiovascular workout of running to help maintain my lung health, so when became injured I turned to swimming as a way to try to maintain my lung strength.
Cathy helped not only with my swimming form, but also with setting some goals for swimming, which gave me a more immediate purpose to focus on with my cross training. In December of 2018 we did a 500 m time trial in the pool (the longest continuous effort I had ever done!) and I clocked a time of 8:53. My C Goal was to cut the time down to 8:46-8:59, by B goal was 8:43-8:46, and my A goal was 8:40-8:43.
After about 5 weeks of swim workouts and form training, we repeated the time trial at the end of January 2019, and I was able to swim 8:09! It was such a good feeling after taking so much time off with these injuries to succeed in making an athletic goal. For many of us who are competitive athletes, we relish the feeling of competing and striving for our goals, and it can be disorienting and discouraging when, during periods of injury, our regular competitive goals seem out of reach.
For me, after a year and a half away from racing competitively, it was such a good feeling to have the validation and excitement that comes with setting a P.R., and it felt great to see how much I had achieved. In my experience, it can be hard to see how the work you do while cross training is paying off, but quantifying my progress and setting this P.R. made me feel like an athlete again.
I credit my success in surpassing my goals to the M.O.V.E.! method, which focuses on both the mental and physical aspects of sport. Cathy filmed my swimming a number of times, which made it easy for me to see how I could improve my form, and the goal setting we did motivated me to get out the door and go to the pool to get the work done. The satisfaction of working towards a goal and making progress is one of the things I love about being an athlete, and this experience showed me that this feeling does not have to stop when I experience injuries and setbacks.