I’ve been working with a client we’ll call Steve, at Nakd Fitness for a couple months now. He reached out to ask for some coaching as he wanted to run his first Marathon and was stuck in the ‘deep hole’ of generic, ‘found them on the internet’, training plans.
What Steve told me was that he’d trained to a level of fitness where he can run 7 miles in something around an hour. It seems a long way; and a lot of progress to have made. And it is! But then he starts to think about the remaining 19 miles, which seems one hell of a distance still to run. So he starts looking around to find a new model of shoe, a new kind of diet, or a different type of training plan which will help him reach his goal more quickly.
Unfortunately, there are no short cuts. And once Steve had worked that out for himself, he asked for my help.
Training for a marathon is like getting a car moving. You need all the power of the first and second gears at the start, but once your rolling, it’s much easier to progress. Think of it this way, increasing your longest run from say, 17 to 19 miles is much easier than going from 3 to 5 miles, because the jump is becoming a much smaller percentage of the whole.
In a marathon, it’s never actually easy, and 26 miles is a long way. But if it were easy, there would be little point to it; and you certainly wouldn’t feel the sense of deep satisfaction and pride which awaits you when you can finally say you’ve ran the distance.
Since starting at Nakd Fitness Downham Market, Steve has jump-started his training and progressed to the next level. He now follows a tailored coaching plan to fit in line with his goals, work diary, and family time. The personalised plan is flexible but accountable. Steve puts his recent success down to consistency found from having a plan that he’s confident he can achieve, and that makes him even more determined.
Consistency and accountability are two things I and every runner I know, struggle with at times. It’s why I have a coach too! Consistency is the ‘secret sauce’ to good training, and a tailored plan can help you be more consistent than ever – and ultimately help you get faster than you ever thought possible!
To all runners willing to work hard and intelligently, send me a private message and we’ll begin the journey to your success
Run with purpose.
Ash
Coach & Client Director