Paying a Running Coach won’t make you faster however listening to one will!
Runners are turning to coaches to support their dreams more and more. Whether it’s motivation, guidance or accountability it doesn’t matter how fast or slow you are; running coaching is becoming more accessible for everyone. In fact at entry level the benefits are often huge!
If you’re thinking about hiring a coach but not quite sure, ask yourself have you ever fallen into the trap of going out a few times a week at the same sort of pace with no structure? Have you recorded your highest weekly mileage one week, only to be followed by a week of no running the following?
That’s fine if you’re just running for exercise and to maintain a level of fitness, but if you’re serious about improving and working towards a goal then you may be heading for a plateau.
Hiring a coach can help you run your first 5k, a marathon personal best or tackle an ultra marathon. Working backwards from your goal race a coach will take the time to plan and take away your worries to help you reach an end target you often didn’t think possible.
Many plans on the Internet are rigid and with ever changing work patterns and family commitments making following a generic plan challenging. Once you’ve missed a few sessions it’s all too easy to get off track (Excuse the pun) and even stop training altogether.
Coaches take the guesswork away, life is hectic enough without having to think and analyse endless stats. If you find yourself asking ‘what should I do today?’, then answer is always ‘exactly what it says on the training plan.’
You can relax safe in the knowledge that your plan is progressive and each run has a purpose, whether that’s to gain fitness, improve speed or an active recovery jog. If you have any questions regarding how you feel or if you should be training harder communicating with your coach can help you make the right choices.
I’ve often found one of the biggest challenges of working with new athletes is actually getting people to do less, not more or slowing runners down on their easy recovery runs. It’s all too easy to think the more I run the faster I get. This is true to a certain extent, but if you’re too tired or worse still injured, then you can’t improve. A coach can help guide you to make sure you’re making the most out of your time spent out pounding the pavement.
To help reduce the risk of hitting that plateau a coach will help encourage you to try new things and provide you with a new stimulus.
Having said all of the above, the bottom line is you still need to be motivated to get out there and do it. A coach can only do so much. It’s their job to plan, guide, motivate and analyse, however putting one foot in front of the other and trusting the process is down to the runner.
Happy running!
