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Running at the Mouth

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Running at the Mouth

What can a coach do to help me?

My 5 P’s of Coaching.

With Steve Manning, Level 4 Running Coach, intraining Coaching Director

A coach is a key part of any successful distance runners support team.  While you might think that coaches are only for elite athletes they can help runners at every level run smarter and reach their goals.
 
While most people run at school many stop once their schooling has finished.  If you don’t have a  purpose to your runs you have little motivation to continue training or competing.  Many of our marathon schoolers have returned to running in their 30’s and 40’s with the goal of recapturing their health and fitness.
 
Memories of their high school coach may have been as a hard taskmaster driving them to their limits in training and racing.  That may have been the right type of coach for a teenage middle-distance runner but an adult trying to complete their first marathon or 10km may need a different type of coaching style. 
After coaching adults and children of all abilities for over thirty years, I’ve developed a philosophy that has seen so many runners achieve their goals and form the basis our intraining Running Group Training.  
 
Here are my 5 P’s of coaching:
 
1.    Purpose
A coach will help you select your goals, races and target times.  They will make sure that they are realistic but challenging.  They help keep you committed to these goals and sharing in your challenges and successes. 
 
2.   Preparation
Coaches give you a program to follow and help you tweak it for your specific needs.  Your training program is the blueprint of proven sessions required to achieve your goal.  The coach will know what type of training is needed in different parts of the year so that you can run at your best in your most important race. 
 
3.   Protect
Coaches help you avoid classic mistakes.  Running might seem easy but there are many traps for the novice runner.  Coaches bring their experience to your running.  They will teach you the hidden skills and special knowledge that is critical to your success. 
 
4.   Pacing
Running is not about going as hard as you can for as long as possible.  At intraining, our coaching strategy is to teach you how to know what pace you are running at all times.  We place more importance on running to your target times than trying to run faster.  This helps you achieve the optimum training effect and the best result in races.
 
5.   Plan.  
Training will make you fitter and faster but that can all come to nothing without the right race plan.  Race strategies will teach you to get the most out of yourself in a race by controlling your effort and pace.  You will be prepared for any scenario as our contingency plans will lead to the best response automatically.

Join the intraining Running Groups and let our coaches help you achieve your running goals or book in for a  personalised plan at intraining Running Injury Clinic.