I think the late Fred Lebow expressed it best when he said, “I’ve been running for 20 years. I read books and articles, yet I need a coach. Why? I still have to be told, to be encouraged.” Fred Lebow was an avid road runner and founder of the New York City Marathon. He transformed this marathon from a small race with 55 finishers in 1970 to one of the largest marathons in the world with over 40,000 finishers in 2009. Fred ran this inaugural NYC marathon in 1970, finishing 45th out of 55 runners with a time of 4:12:09.

Quite often I get asked why people need a coach. It is an interesting question and one that needs answering. Often as runners we are consumed by the next step, mile, and race that we lose sight of everything that stops us from training smart or listening to our body’s. I for one can attest to this. I often plan out my athletes training 2-3 months in advance with a goal race or races in mind. Then we break down the weeks and plan specific workouts and runs. Many of the athletes I coach often get caught up in the numbers I schedule rather than the way their body is feeling and how they are handling the training. For example, this past week I had an athlete complete a HARD workout of mile repeats on a weekday only to have them come back over the weekend and run a 13mile long run. In an email I recieved Monday this athlete wrote: “I ran an additional loop and a half and so I think I ran just over 13…. I was also worn out overall.  I’ve got a long way to go before I’m going to be able to run 26 miles! ” 

When I reminded this athlete of their HARD workout during the week and then their other mileage before the weekend it gave this athlete a bit of perspective. This is where a having a coach is a good thing. Many of us as athetes have the drive and determination to improve our performance. However, it is often this same drive and determination that ends up getting an athlete over tired or god forbid injured or hurt. It takes someone other than the athlete to see and know when an athletes needs to have an easy day, and/or to take a day off. 

So how do you pick a coach?

There was recently a great article in the National Masters News written by Eric Dixon (USATF Level II Sprints/ Hurdles/ Relays Coach). Even though this article was aritten for an athlete looking to hire a sprint coach some of his points do cross over into other running distance areas.

1) Does he or she have experience to handle a broad range of clients and issues? For example, this would entail the coach recognizing things in their athletes such as age, work schedule, fitness background, other time/life constraints such as family.

2) Does the coach possess the ability to foster a good coach-athlete relationship. Any good coach will eventuall become your training partner, your friend, your ally, and your mentor and this is how it should be. Do you feel that this coach will looking out for your best interests.

3) Does the coach work with you to identify short and long term goals. Did the coach ask for your goals upfront and then work with you to develop your training plan.

4) Is the coach a good communicator. If you have an issue does the coach listen and respond to your concerns and help solve this issue.

5) A good coach will individualize your program to meet your age and lifestyle. They need to be able to consider things such as, training volume, nutrition, recovery, and strenghtening exercises just to name a few.

6) Does the coach try to give everyone equal time and is accessible to all their athletes.

7) Does the coach recognize your strengths and weaknesses and if so has the coach a plan to make the weaknesses better.