Can hiring a running coach make me faster?
This might seem like an obvious one, and to a degree you’d be right, but the way in which a coach can make you run faster may be less obvious.
How do we run faster?
There are a whole host of different ways to improve someone’s speed, whether it be technique alterations, changes in body composition through exercise and/or nutrition, more targeted running sessions, or the improvement or addition of strength training.
Any of these variables, when adjusted in the right way, will have a positive influence on a runner. They work to increase cardiovascular fitness, muscle strength, muscle endurance or power to weight ratio, sometimes as the specific target, but sometimes as an additional benefit.
How coaches actually help
The things I’ve consistently seen as the major causes for people not running as fast as they want are recurring injuries and mis-matched goals.
One of the first interactions with a coach should be around setting a clear goal or set of goals. This ensures all training, or certainly most of it, is specifically targeted to get the right results. If you want to run a big 5k PB and your first half marathon within a few weeks of each other, you’ll never do as well as you could in one or the other.
Injuries, whether they’re new or recurring, will get in the way of training if they happen. I’ve seen numerous friends get injured when they were well on their way to a marathon PB based on their training. Mostly these have been avoidable as they were caused by over-training or ignoring a previous injury that had never been fully addressed. I say that not as a jibe (we’ve all done it after all), but as a reminder to not do it again and to learn from our mistakes.
Consistency is the key
The best running plan in the world won’t help if you’re injured. The most scientifically backed programme will fail to help you reach your goal if it’s not designed for your specific goals and needs.
It’s far better to be good consistently, than to attempt perfection every now and then. Every week that training goes roughly to plan is a step in the right direction, moving you ever closer to your next goal.
You can’t hope to reach peak fitness if you end up missing every 5th week of training because you’ve overdone it in some way during the previous 4 weeks. A coach can help you avoid this issue, keeping you level-headed when the rush of running well makes you want to get out there more and more, with increasingly difficult sessions or longer runs. They’ll also give you a kick up the bum if you’re not trying hard enough or not sticking with the plan like you could be.
There are any number of ways a coach can make you run faster, but overall, it comes down to being accurate in planning and consistent in execution. You don’t have to be chasing down an audacious goal to warrant hiring a coach. It might be training for your first ever race, stepping up to your first half marathon or aiming for a Boston Marathon qualifying time. The right coach can help you.
Written by Kyle Brooks, Running Coach based in Norwich, Norfolk
