The Runner's Tribe Coaching Philosophy

The Runner's Tribe has gained its coaching insights from great coaches who have helped shape current training methods. Our beliefs are derived from practical experience. We are runners who have spent much of our lives with other runners, we have witnessed all sorts of training approaches, and have formed our views from these experiences. Below are 10 basics which govern our approach to how a runner should be coached. The article is mainly directed towards elite level runners, although all the same principals apply to social runners in different degrees.

1. The only sure thing in running, is that if you are injured, your fitness will stagnate:
The main reason why athletes don't achieve their running or fitness goals is that they get injured too often. Overuse injuries are so common that it is a rare feat to meet a runner who has never experienced a stress fracture, hip problem, or hamstring injury! Why is this so? For starters, runners are driven people, they push the limits, they don't understand that a little less may often be more beneficial than a little more. Secondly, coaches are focused people, they want to see their athletes succeed, so they also can push the boundaries and fail to recognise limits . Lastly, the human body is fragile, it isn't made to cover ridiculous numbers of miles each week, different people have different biomechanical abnormalities which are hard to factor into the training program. However, with careful coaching the risk of injuries can be minimised but never eliminated.

2. Patience, then more patience:
Runners, by nature, are an impatient bunch. They want results now. Often, when a coach advises a runner that the real results might be three, four or five years away the runner can't handle it and steps over that fine line between being correctly trained and over-trained, under the false belief that he or she can somehow quicken the process by training harder and harder. Unfortunately, the harsh reality is that results take time, building strength in a runner takes time, building huge levels of mental confidence takes time, perfecting endurance whilst maintaining speed takes time, there are no short cuts.

The majority of runners worldwide fall victim to not being able to plan for the medium and long term and end up falling by the wayside or deciding it's all too hard. Therefore, athletes need to learn to enjoy the journey, enjoy the day to day act of running and let results take care of themselves. If a coach can get this message into the head of a runner, then that athlete may reach his or her fitness potential, whether that runner is a fun runner, or a potential world beater.

3. High mileage is important, if done intelligently:
The western world had great success with athletes trained off high mileage during the 1950's, 1960's and into the 1970's. Athletes such as Herb Elliott, Peter Snell, Murray Halberg, Barry Magee, Ron Clarke, Ron Davies, Albert Salazar and Lasse Viren all broke records and won major titles through the use of high mileage training approaches. However, the western world seemed to move away from such an endurance approach with the rise of runners such as Sebastian Coe, Steve Ovett and Steve Cram. These three amazing runners were some of the best the world has ever seen, but it is fair to say that they were the one-off products of their ability and their coaches. What worked for them has not worked for the masses. Subsequently the national records of the various western countries have stagnated and the African nations, with their high mileage training routines, have dominated the world's running stage.

For runners to reach their potential they must successfully build up their mileage, through the use of long term development under the management of a coach who understands the process. It really is no surprise that America has failed to produce any world beaters during the 1980's and 1990's, as training there during this period switched from one of high mileage to low to medium mileage. If you look at the exceptions to this rule, the runners from western countries who have been successful during the past twenty years, you will notice that they all have trained on a high mileage program. A few examples are Steve Scott, Robert de Castella, Steve Prefontaine and Craig Mottram. In reality it is hard to fine a runner who has succeeded at an international level at distances from 1500m and up who runs less than 125km a week (most of them run/ran a lot more than this).

The problem with high mileage is the patience issue covered in point 2. Building an athlete who is able to cope with high mileage take years, and patience. Athletes may not win state or national titles as juniors, but instead will be laying the foundation for their real career during their twenties and into their thirties. Unfortunately, like politicians, far too many coaches have a vision only for the immediate future, they have a regional title to win in a month and resort to four weeks of intense track work off a limited base. Such approaches may be successful in the short term, but pretty much will guarantee failure in the longer term.

4. Speed is also important, if done extremely intelligently:
Any coach who ignores the importance of speed is, quite simply, not worth two cents. Look no further than the performances of elite endurance runners to notice how much speed these runners obviously have. A few examples: Kenenisa Bekele ran a last lap of 53 seconds to win the 10,000m at the Athens Olympics, Noureddine Morceli ran a 51 second last lap to beat the worlds best at a 5000m in 1994. Furthermore, today's world leading 800m runners regularly go through the first lap split in under 50 seconds. To know all this and to argue that speed is not important would be the height of stupidity. However, how this development of top end speed comes about is where many coaches fall down, it is not a simple issue.

For the true distance runner, of distances from 5,000m and up, the speed can most likely be developed through the regular implementation of relatively low intensity speed sessions or run-throughs. Haile Gebresslaisse for example, commonly does run-throughs before and after the majority of his runs. However the issue of speed becomes more complicated when dealing with events such as the 800m and 1500m. Do too much intense speed work around the track and you risk breaking down with overuse injuries as well as destroying your aerobic development through too much lactic work. Ignore speed altogether, however, and the athlete will never be able to cruise through the halfway point of a mile in under 2 minutes or through the first lap of an 800m in 49 seconds. It is obvious that intense speed sessions are required, but perhaps not as often as the majority of western coaches would have you believe is necessary. Some respected authors argue that runners require approximately ten days to recover from very intense track speed work. Experience also teaches us that this is true for the majority of runners. Thus we argue that speed is best developed and maintained through the implementation of an intense speed session approximately once a fortnight, with the combination of regular speed workouts of lesser intensity, such as run-throughs at the end of aerobic workouts.

Speed needs to be developed and maintained, but not at the expense of developing the aerobic system, the coach must determine how to achieve both.

5. Periodisation:
Periodisation can mean different things amongst coaches. The standard, simplified approach is as follows:
- At the start of the off season the athlete begins a base building period, the emphasis in on endurance and strength development, whilst maintaining the occasional speed workout.
- As the year progresses the emphasis slowly switches away from an endurance/strength dominated program to one that incorporates more speed.

Once the racing season arrives, the amount of endurance work is significantly reduced and the athlete is tapered so that he or she can be fresh to perform at peak in the important races.

The Runners Tribe believes that strength and endurance building needs to be a continuous process and commitment. Therefore having too long a taper over the summer months is disadvantageous to the athlete's long term development. It must be the aim of the athlete and coach to be continuously getting fitter and stronger, whilst of course carrying out necessary tapers in order to peak for big races. However, spending three months in an extended 'taper' is hardly in harmony with this goal of continual aerobic development. Furthermore, we believe that it is also important to be near race fitness at any stage of the year, for example a 1500m runner must be running intense reps all year round, not just for 4 weeks before the racing period commences.

6. Enjoying the Journey:
Above all else, runners must enjoy the journey that running brings. There is no way that a runner can consistently cover the miles in training unless he or she enjoys the process. When a runner enjoys the journey it also relieves them of much of the pressure of winning or 'making it'. It is the harsh reality that although most young runners start off with high ambitions, very few will every make it to the highest level. However, if the runner enjoys the journey then the realisation that such dreams might never come into fruition is handled much better. Furthermore, running is a great way to meet life-long friends, it teaches you discipline, worth ethic and much much more besides.

7. Having goals:
Humans function more efficiently and effectively when they are driven and inspired by goals. Goals lead to drive and determination. Whether your goal is to just be able to run for 10 minutes without walking, or qualify for an Olympic team, the achievement of such goals should be equally as satisfying. It's fair to say that no one has ever won a medal at the Olympics without believing that they could do so. The sub-conscious mind is very powerful and self belief is crucial to success at any level.

8. Support:
All humans need support at some level and its importance is amplified when dealing with athletes. Serious runners need support from three main areas: Firstly, financial, secondly, coaching and thirdly, family and friends. Less serious runners also need support, however it may be slightly more discreet. For example a runner aiming for a city to surf fun run needs his partner to be flexible so that he or she can train. The role of a support network should not be underestimated.

9. Life Balance:
Athletes tend to be driven people, and therefore often go overboard with their running endeavors. For a runner to perform in the long term and for their life to be sustainable they must achieve a balance between their running, work and family lives. Often when an athlete does not have a balanced life they put too much pressure on themselves to succeed at running. There are other things in life.

10. Diet:
There has been much written about sports nutrition. The diets of well-known athletes vary so much in quality and quantity that it is hard to figure out just how important nutrition is. For example, Haile Gebrselassie has previously stated that while he is in London his favourite meal is McDonalds whilst on the other-hand the Kenyans are known for their healthy diets of red meat, Kenyan porridge, leafy vegetables and weak yet sweet tea. It is hard to know the true importance of nutrition, however it must be that eating a balanced diet is important.