Long distance running online coaching comes with responsibilities
With my long distance running online coaching, my responsibilities are not as obvious as they appear. I am entrusted with someone’s running goals, and I would never want to let anyone down who trusts me. That is why I prefer a slow, sure way to success rather than pushing a runner through short, dangerous routes.
There is so much that can be added into a training program: hill workouts, slope repeats, different kinds of fartleks, downhill speed workouts, long and short track intervals, threshold runs, diagonals, tempo runs, easy runs, moderate runs, recovery runs, track repeats, long runs, semi-long runs, etc. However, not all these types of workouts necessarily need to happen all at once, in the same week, or even in the same month.
There is too much to do in a limited time in long distance running training
The runners I coach online sometimes check other people’s training programs and wonder why I am not including them in those programs. There is no one-size-fits-all training program, especially for long distance running, which is why constant communication between a runner and their coach is very important. There are many factors to consider when designing a program for each individual, including their age, running history, other work schedules that day, and their running goals, to name a few.
Sometimes here in Kenya, while we are training on the track, it happens that runners preparing for the same upcoming race are all there, doing different workouts under different coaches. I remember a time when Eliud Kipchoge and Wilson Kipsang were preparing to face each other in the Berlin Marathon, and they coincidentally met on track at the University of Eldoret (Chepkoilel) about two weeks before their race. I remember Kipchoge was doing very different workouts from Kipsang’s, and each of them was confident in their own program and acted as though they did not even notice the other was there.
Runners who lack confidence in what they are doing and what they want would easily step aside from the track to see and time their opponent, then try the same exact workouts when the other is done, to measure themselves against them ahead of the competition.
Even runners in the same training groups do not necessarily run at the same level when they race. This should be expected, given that in the same workouts, the runners may be running the same times in their 1000m track intervals, but the effort they put in to push is so different.
Pushing hard does not necessarily translate into improvement
Every coach knows that it is not always how hard you push physically in training that translates into big improvements, but rather balancing effort to get the most out of each workout. A coach is happy whenever an athlete does 1,000m track intervals, let’s say 12 of them, beginning with 3:05/km pace in their first repetitions and is able to push the last three or two under 3:00/km.
Runners need to understand what a coach means by the terms easy, jog, moderate, tempo, and hard. These words are relative terms. Easy for some athletes could be a 3:40/km pace, while it could be 6:30/km for others. This is another area where an athlete needs to be very honest in how they feel and communicate well with their coach. Many runners hit their personal bests on their “easy” runs because they’re in the wrong training group.
When I enrol new athletes into my Online Coaching by Kenyan Athlete programs, I often start by giving them time-based programs until I understand them better. This is one of the concepts I learned while training under Coach Erick Kimaiyo in 2008, who is famous for coaching the former world record holder and London and Chicago marathon champion, Brigid Kosgei.
We had a 16km route we usually used for our 1hr 10minutes of easy morning runs on easy training days. Sometimes, a few athletes would increase the pace in the last few kilometres and finish the course in one hour, and Kimaiyo would check his watch and ask them to run in the opposite direction until they completed the full 1 hour and 10 minutes. The next time the runners would be running, they would understand exactly what the coach meant by going “easy.”
Runners who do extra vs those who skip workouts
There is also a complicated part of coaching: athletes who like to do a little more than they are given. Others skip some training programs. Dealing with those who skip some training programs may be a little easier than dealing with those who do extra, but since most of my online coaching clients are reading this, I am not going to share it here, as they will find a way to get ahead of me! I learned this art from interviewing Pace Sports Management coach, Sammy Mitei.
What is interesting, though, with this journey of online coaching is that the learning is mutual. I learn from my athletes as much as they learn from me.