Sometimes a person will say something to you that really makes an impact. These can be good or bad, but this Wednesday at our scheduled chat, my coach Rory Coleman said something that really hit home, in a good way.

As a plain speaking, tell it how it is and get fast results kinda guy, he’s already hit me with a few of these, and not all of them what you’d call likeable. The one that keeps echoing round my head and making me eat salad for lunch every day is, “You need to be 9 stone.” Cutting all the fun stuff out of my diet (especially real ale!) has been waaaay harder than sticking to the training plan and I haven’t always managed it, but I have managed to 9 stone 3/4, down from my slightly cuddly 10.5 stone three months ago. So I didn’t like it, but it stuck with me and it’s working thanks to Rory.

The beauty of these less likeable truths means that when he says something good, you really believe it. Like on Wednesday. Let’s relive it together so you can benefit from his direct approach too. Ok imagine a man frowning at you like this:

Look at coach Rory Coleman’s stern face, wouldn’t you just do everything he says?

Then imagine he has made you give up beer, or something not healthy that you can’t resist. Then, imagine him saying in a deep but nice voice over the phone, “I know that you are a lot better than you think you are.”

Wow. Just let that bounce around your head for a minute. 11-times Marathon des Sable completer coach Rory Coleman KNOWS that you are a lot better than you think you are.

Digest it. Then take it to your next race. I’m taking it to the Great Eastern Run with me next Sunday and I will start off at 7:40 min mile pace to hit my 1:40 target. I’ll reassess after 6 miles to see how it’s going, but apparently, I will “breeze it!” Here I come!