Sooner or later, as a runner, you are likely to ask yourself "Do I need a coach?"
If you're like me there are about 100 other questions that follow:
If you're like me there are about 100 other questions that follow:
- I've never had a coach, what's that like?
- What does it cost?
- Do coaches even work with people like me (whatever that means for you)?
- and dozens more...
So let's pick this apart with a bit of research...
1. Coach vs training plan
A training plan is a schedule of workouts that will get you to a specific distance race. Some are very generic for 5K, 10K, half marathon, or marathon and don't really account for where you are starting from. Others may differentiate between level of experience, include some level of specificity for the workouts (quality vs easy vs tempo vs long), or vary between the number of days of running per week (from 3 to 7). Some will be geared for a Saturday goal race and some Sunday. Some have long runs on Saturday, some on Sunday. Some use minutes and some use miles. Some are free and some are paid. Some are custom. There's a lot of variety and any number of them could work for you. Training plans are available from a variety of sources including Runners World, Training Peaks, Hal Higdon, and some of the larger races.
Personal note - if you are slower than 11 min/mile then consider using a plan that uses miles instead of minutes. Minute plans never seem get you close enough to the distance or amount of time you will need on your feet to be adequately trained for your goal distance.
If all you need is a roadmap of what to do and you are capable of holding yourself accountable, cheering yourself on, knowing if you are overtraining or not pushing hard enough, and just need something to tell you what to do every day a training plan may be perfect.
If you are willing to have someone honestly work with you to get you to your goals, tell you when your goals are realistic and when they're not, plan workouts for you and hold you accountable to them, and push you to accomplish things you didn't believe possible, you may be ready for a coach.
Yes, coaches plan workouts. There are many different approaches to doing this and different coaching philosophies. If you subscribe to one method before you enter a coaching relationship it helps to know what method(s)/approach your potential coach uses.The Daniels method, Hanson's, and others can be very different and people have very different reactions to them.
But coaches also review and communicate with you about your workouts. They identify areas for improvement and where additional investment is unlikely to yield performance gains. They share insight to help you improve. They motivate and give you a kick in the arse. And they generally celebrate their athlete's accomplishments...and share in the misery of a bad workout or a terrible race...as long as you have done the work.
2. What do you want/need from a coach?
This is something that you need to figure out for yourself, and you may not know until after your first relationship. Some things to ask yourself:
- How often do I need updates? How far in advance do I feel like I need to know my workouts? Is this compatible with what the coach offers?
- What format are training plans? Are they in Training Peaks or a PDF? What works for me?
- How much do I need flexibility due to work/family commitments?
- Are there group runs that I can participate in?
- What is a typical balance between quality and distance? What is typical volume? How customized is this for individual athletes?
- How do you communicate (phone, text, email, video chat)? How often? What is your turnaround on messages? How does this align with my expectations?
- Do I want to be able to talk through a race with my coach before and after? Is this a shared expectation?
- Do I expect recognition? Public? Private? What is important to me?
- Do I want a coach who does coaching full time or is someone who does it on top of another career ok? What education/experience/credentials do I expect?
In short, some self-reflection may be in order before you have an initial conversation with a coach. Have the conversation. Coaching is a relationship, not just a transaction. Have a non-threatening first date first.
Some coaches have degrees in exercise science or biomechanics or something similar. Others have credentials from an organization like the Road Runners Club of America or USA Track & Field.
Personal notes -
I worked through a variety of training plans and assembled my own training plans for a few years. Then I had a coach, but he was really just a pretty decent runner who made a training plan and communicated with me in a pretty limited way...he also wanted to "fix" my lifestyle and I wasn't there and certainly not with him. Then I met my current coach. I didn't know what I was looking for, but I found it. I have a trainer and another coach for another sport and I have learned some of the things above the hard way. I am NOT ok with weekly plan posting, I expect email/text replies within 24 hours, I expect clarification when I have questions about a workout, I prefer mile approaches over minute approaches, it helps me to talk through races even though I was't initially a fan. Live and learn, but you can learn a lot from others' failures.
3. What am I willing to put in?
Having a coach won't make you a better runner any more than having a training plan will. You need to put in the time and do the work. Not just the workouts, but communicating. This means uploading your workouts (or however you communicate them), making notes about how you felt or what the conditions were, looking at the data yourself, and communicating goals, races, and schedules with your coach. You only transfer some of the responsibility for success (or failure) when you do the work.
Understanding that sport is part mental and that you need to do the mental work is part of it. Some of the resources that best work through the mental game are How Bad Do You Want It? and The Brave Athlete.
How much difference can coaching make in times? It depends on a million factors...but since I started with my current coach in 2014 I have taken 92 minutes off my half Ironman and 23 minutes off my half marathon. Doing the right work, the right way, with the right support makes a big difference.
__________________________
Want to know more of my story? I was recently interviewed for the DizRuns podcast and it can be found at http://www.dizruns.com/rose-scovel/
Comments
Post a Comment