Why I’m Re-launching My Online Coaching (And Why It’s Not Just Another App)
I’ve coached hundreds of people over the past 10+ years- runners of all ages, sizes, fitness levels, and backgrounds. And if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s this:
You don’t need more tech. You need a human who understands you.
Oh, I’ve been sucked into thinking I needed all the gizmos to support my online branch of the business; I’ve also spent a considerable amount of money going against my gut instinct which is fundamentally that a coach and their athlete need an honest relationship on which to build progress.
That’s why I’m re-launching RunVerity Online Coaching, a personalised, expert-led coaching experience that goes far beyond an app or auto-generated plan. This is real coaching, built around who you are.
What Makes This Different?
Firstly, we’re not data points, we’re so much more than numbers and running isn’t just about numbers, pace targets or your Strava feed.
I come from an understanding of the highs and lows of running; just like you, (I know I’m not just like you, because we’re all unique), but what I’m saying is I’m human with fragilities (that sometimes people don’t see) and even after all these years, I still make mistakes in running. Just like yesterday when a mile into my run my legs wouldn’t work, they felt like lead and I had that awful, gut-wrenching tiredness, literally in my gut.
I thought, “what’s wrong, why won’t my legs work? why doesn’t this feel good?” and then I remembered - I hadn’t had a day off training for NINE days! I know! How did that happen, especially when I know all about cumulative load, that if you don’t include rest in your training plan it impacts every session until you, well rest! If you keep going on the hamster wheel, you’ll just keep going on the hamster wheel, round and round you’ll go with zero progression. And I still want to progress -
I want to keep getting stronger, if I can, I want to get faster for the age I am now, and I want to continue learning all about running, especially now, with the visible increase in robust scientific research being published. This week I’ve been reading about how frequent (and common) malnutrition and Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (REDs) is in female endurance runners, which is so relevant and relatable to normal, ordinary runners like me and you, raised to fear carbs (and generally food!).
I also found research exploring how recreational runners feel emotionally and physically after completing endurance races, this research highlighted both the positive experiences like pride and euphoria, and challenges like exhaustion, emptiness, and lack of motivation – I get excited when I read stuff like this because I think “YES” this is what could be happening to some of my runners!
Because now, more than ever, professionals in the field of sport like coaches and nutritionists are being drowned out by influencers, apps, the latest hacks, and as I’ve said, I’m not immune to it.
Confession time - I downloaded a very popular running app and, spoiler, it didn’t end well. I gave it all my data, all true, nothing over inflated, I told it how many times I could train each week and what preferred day I liked my long run on, I shared my goal race event and waited with bated breath for my shiny new 16-week training plan.
There was a lovely introduction by the head coach who gave a full explanation of what each session entailed, it was exciting……I must admit I gasped at the algorithms “predicted time” for my race, I knew, realistically it was a bit beyond my reach, BUT there was also a bit of me that thought “could I?” Numbers don’t lie, do they?
The first few weeks went well, I hit the pace targets, I learnt a little bit more about why runners don’t stick to an easy pace, because, well, it feels too easy to start off with, and I also knew if I wanted to progress, I had to follow the plan, easy runs were run easy and hard runs were run hard so I was a good girl and pulled it back when it told me to and pushed when I needed to. And to be honest, I enjoyed the structure, I enjoyed not having to “think” about myself and my training, I personally haven’t had a coach since 2014, I usually write all my own training plans, so it did, it felt good.
And then it didn’t- because the app didn’t ask me how I was, or what was going on in my life, the app couldn’t “see” me. It wasn’t interested that I’d been up half the night worrying about something or other (usually my kids and now their kids!), so it couldn’t gauge my mood, see the bags under my eyes, or sense that I wasn’t eating enough. It didn’t care that I was already doing too much because both my daughters had needed me to cover for childcare that week, because, yes, as I said, I’m human and sometimes I forget to put myself first, so I skip breakfast and/or lunch or don’t drink enough through the day - (I know, I really must try harder and not have toast for my dinner every night).
So as the weeks rolled by, the app abruptly and I feel quite clinically, told me that my plan needed adjusting, that I wasn’t hitting the paces, that I wasn’t, as my human brain translated it, good enough. Oh boy, was I hurt… I felt crap, so the plan was re-jigged without context, and we went back to week 1 with a new time goal and my tail between my legs. I still turned up each week with the structure and session in place, but something weird happened to me- when I missed the “pace” for one of the harder sessions, instead of allowing myself to ease off, just by a few seconds, or by one lap, which is what I would have told my athletes to do, I stopped the session, turned the, now very annoying, voice in my ear off, got in the car and went home!
I don’t do that, I’m not a quitter, I keep going, but not hitting the target reached a part, deep within me that I’d not seen for a very long time. And, just like sometimes it takes a while to get out of a toxic relationship, I didn’t delete the app straight away, I held on to it for a while, as though it held the secret to my running “success” but I know now and I’ve always known, really, it doesn’t.
So here I am, firmly believing in myself with my trusted values and holistic approach to coaching, backed by real life experience, two decades of psychology teaching, plus an almost obsessive need to digest the latest sports science research, saying I coach the whole runner: physically, mentally, and emotionally. And this is what I enjoy doing.If you want to find out more or share with anyone you think might benefit, you can have a read and get in touch here.