Coaching Philosophy
As your coach, my goal is to unlock your full potential while also unlocking your love for running. One of the reasons I became a coach was the joy I found in helping others achieve their goals. Everyone is a unique individual, and it is my goal to build a relationship with you to understand how to support your journey. By understanding your specific strengths and weaknesses, I will create training plans that capitalize on your individuality.
Running should improve your life. It should bring more joy, strength, focus, self-confidence, community, and inspiration to your life. Through leading by example, my goal is to encourage a healthy lifestyle in all aspects of your life not just through running, but through strength training, diet and overall well-being.
Running Biomechanics
Without a basic understanding of muscle physiology, there is no foundation on which to build a solid training program. In order to coach athletes of any sport, the ability to apply sports science to form an appropriate training regimen is an absolute requirement. It is not enough to rely on one’s past sport-specific experience to coach athletes, which is what I did when I coached high school. Experience is a great asset, but it requires integration with a working knowledge of sports science.
You will fall into one of three categories:
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You’re a new runner and are unfamiliar with proper running form.
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You’re a seasoned runner but have improper form.
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You’re one of the few people in the world who have perfect form.
While many coaching programs focus solely on the cardiovascular aspect of training, if biomechanics are not addressed, you will not be able to perform to your potential and your chance of getting injured likely increases. For these reasons, paying attention to and addressing your form is of critical importance.
Strength Training
(The Secret Weapon)
Getting injured doing something you love (running) stinks.
I’ve been there…But during those hard times, just like any trial in life, I learned a lot about myself.
I learned that only running WILL get you faster, but it will ALSO get you hurt.
It may seem that all of the strength you need to run comes from running itself.
Your legs, core, and upper body will go through changes as you begin running, but there are some parts of your body that need to be strengthened to support running.
To develop the muscles that allow you to have good form while running is crucial to preventing injuries.
Injuries often come at times of fatigue because your posture and form become compromised.
When too much pressure is put on different parts of your body, like your knees, your likelihood of injury increases significantly.
Your core and hips are two areas that often need more attention in order to give you that stable foundation.
The good news is you don’t need to go to the gym for hours every week.
Building a lot of muscle isn’t the goal in prehab, or strength running.
As a runner, strength training usually means doing a few exercises for 15-30 minutes after most runs.
Even if you don’t like lifting weights, it doesn’t take much to keep you running your best, injury-free.
Here are two motivations to consider if you think strength training isn’t for you:
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You will feel more confident in your running the stronger you get.
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As simple as it sounds, you will be a better runner. You will be able to run longer, faster, and for more of your life.
Because strength training is either neglected completely or performed in minute quantities by most runners, it will become the secret weapon to your running success. Resistance training done with the right selection of exercises and with proper form and progression can greatly improve the performance of a runner.
Running Community
This is one of The Run Garden’s biggest missions, creating a community that looks after the people in it.
A common ground not only where running is a shared interest, but also where people discover they have so much more in common.
A place people can trust to connect with others who are facing the same struggles and find the motivation to keep powering through.
Above all, The Run Garden community is about discovering a deep appreciation for the people who love to run.
