Over the years as a running coach, I have lost count of the amount of people who have either not followed a plan, or have followed a generic plan and have not done themselves justice in the race, have not enjoyed the race, or even worse, not even made the start line because of injury or their confidence has evaporated due to the lack of progress their training has given them.
Happily though, I have seen an amazing amount of runners who have achieved way more than they ever thought possible. Runners who once doubted themselves, lacked confidence, or concerned they would get injured again. As a coach I am qualified in how to train you with intention.
What do I mean by intention? Well you intend to run a race, you intend to achieve a specific time or maybe just finish it. You intend to enjoy the experience (or why do it?) and you intend to be fitter and healthier from the training and the race itself.
YOU WILL GET WHAT YOU TRAIN FOR, SO BE INTENTIONAL.
Of course there are more free training plans on the the World Wide Web than there are runners, but they all have one thing in common. They are completely generic and they only deal with the miles.
If you are a 55 year old female, or a 24 year old male, do you think following the same plan is a good idea? Do you think that the powers of recovery will be the same, should the intensity of your miles be the same, should you even be running the same amount of miles?
Added to that, what about your aerobic fitness (do you even know what that is?) what about nutrition, strength training, running form, conditioning exercise, recovery periods, where are those crucial factors covered in a free on-line plan?
Having a coach breeds confidence. Why? Because you know you are training the right way and doing the right things every day so you can reach your goals and your full potential. You are not a full time elite athlete, you are mortal and probably have a very busy life with work and family, you don’t have time to get it wrong, you don’t have time to be injured and you certainly do not have time to make sacrifices with your time to train and then not enjoy it and end up doing the wrong thing.
Coaches understand things like intensity, and what level you should be at on each run. They understand training load, as most running injuries are not caused because of a single run, but more a build up of multiple runs and the overall load being too much for your body to cope with. The there is rest and recovery weeks, something I don’t see many on-plans take into consideration.
Ultimately, you have decided to enter a race. You have decided you are prepared to train for it, so why not give yourself the very best opportunity to make the best of the time and commitment you are making to this? A coach will give you that and take the guess work out.
Investing in proper run coaching isn’t earth shatteringly expensive, you won’t meet a running coach who drives an expensive car I can assure you, we do it mainly for the love of the sport and the thrill of helping people do something they will be proud of for the rest of their lives. Of course we need to live and pay the bills, so be kind! 🙂
About me – Lee Perry
I am a UESCA qualified endurance running coach, as well as English Athletics. UESCA provide date driven and a scientifically tested approach to endurance running that can be followed by any runner of any age and standard. I am also a level 3 personal trainer, fitness coach, strength and conditioning coach and level 4 nutritional advisor. I coach runners from all over the world. I am runner myself, having competed 4 London Marathons, 1 Berlin and countless others, as well half marathons and ultra marathons. Every runner I work with receives a unique plan to them, nothing is ever generic.