What's The Difference In Running Coaches?

Sunday, January 12, 2014 · Mike Davis

A few years back it would have been difficult to find a personal running coach in the Portsmouth, Dover or even close to the Seacoast of New Hampshire. Now that running has become more mainstream it seems as if more people are getting on board as coaches or running group leaders. I personally think it is great that more people are getting involved because that’s great for the many runners out there and also brings in new runners as well. For me my journey in becoming a running coach started 6 years ago with my participation in the Portsmouth Runners Alley half marathon training group. From that participation grew a deeper enthusiasm for running that apparently caught the eye of Runners Alley owner Jeanine Sylvester, as two years later she asked if I wanted to help coach the half marathon training group. Out of that first training group I found a strong sense of pride in working to help people realize their running goals. At that time I was more a running director with very little knowledge or experience in the technical aspects such as running form, training plans, developing runners or race planning. I was pretty good at following training plans and working with individuals and groups, but in reality I knew that I needed to learn all the technical aspects of running if I truly wanted to be a coach that helped runners. Like most people I took to the internet to search out material and that was helpful, but not enough to really understand running and runners as much as I wanted. Eventually I found out about Road Runners Club of America (RRCA) and how they were the only distance running organizations that certified coaches so I went out to Denver Colorado and took the 2 day certification course. The 2 day course was mostly helpful in training plan building and some other aspects of coaching. After passing the certification test I was now deemed a certified running coach. While it was great to have an official certification I knew that there was still much more to learn if I intended to truly be a running coach. In the two years since I got my RRCA certification I have studied training plan building much more in depth, along with running form and the physiology of how the body works as it pertains to running. During this time I have also worked with runners of all levels from beginners to those that competed in Boston as qualifiers. Having worked with well over a 100 runners between groups and individuals I have been able to take that book knowledge and use it in a practical sense. I have been very fortunate in that while I have been developing as a true running coach, I have also had the opportunity to work with various levels of runners. Initially I intended to work with only a certain level of runners but as I gained knowledge and was able to see great results with all levels of runners, I did not limit No Finish Line Running to any particular level. The decision to expand NFLR to all levels of runners brought a much greater challenge in many ways to the running business. I realized that this business that my daughter Jennifer and I founded needed to develop resources that would help every runner at whatever level they came to us at. Beginners needed running plans and basic guidance (stretching, nutrition and etc…), intermediates needed structure (training logs, plans and accountability) and advance runners needed more technical training. All levels needed gait analysis, so we invested in the Medical Motion gait analysis system which is the best system out there for analyzing running form. Since day one I have also strived to help runners understand the importance of strength training and provide them with simple strength training plans. Because of all this I have expanded NFLR by bringing in additional help and no longer is it just myself and Jennifer but we have added third member to our staff in Lew Ricker. Lew is learning the book side as well as the practical side of training runners and will get his RRCA certification this spring. I am demanding to work for and thankfully Lew wants to understand all aspects of running. Today NFLR is flourishing as the Dover, Portsmouth, the Berwick’s and the entire seacoast number one resource for runners. We also have a great pair of people behind the scenes that help us with our website and that resource is constantly evolving with no set limitations. Having a website that runners can come to and find help for their running is important to me. Doug Mackinnon and the future Mrs. Mackinnon, Katie Mack understand the need for a functional website and in Doug’s case; how to build it! We have a lot of exciting additions to the website coming in the next few months and NFLR will continue to help all runners directly and indirectly. For me I realized along my journey that I could lead a group training, I could even get a certification, but in order to be a true running coach, I needed to learn all aspects of running and develop a coaching model that built trust in every runner. This week I met with one of our clients and though it took 6 months and multiple races, I could feel the trust that she now has in our ability to help her. Everything we do is contingent on knowledge, experience, understanding and trust. Being a group leader for runners is great, being able to help someone follow a training plan (accountability) is important, but for me; NFLR is more than that in that we want to develop each individual to run healthy, efficiently, competitively if desired and most of all enjoyably for life! No Finish Line Running! I hope you enjoyed getting to know NFLR a bit better and what we are all about. We care about every runner we work with and times that even becomes a problem. Runners need objectivity and when we become so close to our runners that we aren’t advising them as we should things like injuries are possible. So we have to constantly assess what we think is best for each runner despite knowing how badly they want to compete or fear taking time off. Our client’s hopes often become our hopes, so their disappointments become ours. While that’s not always fun, it is all a part of keeping it personal. What we try to do is keep the prospective of “no finish line” in mind so that we know there will be another opportunity to succeed. Have a great Sunday and thanks for having coffee with me! Mike