A Confession

It’s time to come clean. I’ve been debating a lot about writing this post. Various people have either encouraged it or warned me against it, sometimes both. Those who follow such things may have noticed that my training has been somewhat extensive in the last couple of weeks. Is this a Spring Clean-style motivation boost I hear you ask? Well, kind of.

The truth is I’ve got myself a running coach. When I came back to running, it was because I felt I had unfinished business. My 3:59 marathon time isn’t as quick as I know I can do. A bit like the rowing fire that burns in the most obsessed oars-people, I had an unshaking feeling that I could be a bit faster with a lot of effort and patience. The set up at my running club is such that each squad has a number of people who are qualified to take a session. However, there isn’t the ‘guru’ coach figure, within easy reach, that we had at the boat club. It’s not fair to those who volunteer their time to have me whining on at them with every little question I have.

Those who know the Novice Men Coach at GRC will attest. If Colin said “Go and jump off a cliff” the only response from pretty much the whole squad would be “How would you like me to land, Col?” It’s a testament to the respect and trust he engendered from his crews. I miss that.

So I decided to do something about it. After reading amazing testimonials from the likes of Simon Freeman and Ben Moreau, and seeing his work as Coaching Editor of Men’s Running UK, I’ve started training with Nick Anderson, UKA Level 4 Endurance Coach and trainer of some pretty fast people, not to mention GB Internationals.

You may think this is all a bit la-de-da and overkill for a fair-to-middling club runner. My response to that is – Why not, I’m worth it! If I don’t give myself a chance at doing something like this, I’ll never now what I’m capable of. I’m not claiming that I’ll chance the world or suddenly becoming a Running Champion, but Nick will provide me with the tools to be the best runner I can be.

We’ve already set a number of goals for the coming year and to say I’m excited would be the understatement of the century. What those goals are shall be kept between me at the coach for the time being, but they are suitably challenging. The opportunity of guidance from someone with the experience and expertise of Nick is the most significant sporting event in my life since that BMF session I’ve already blogged about.

If I don't do a session with my squad at the club, its nothing personal and not intended to offend anyone.

The first week has been amazing, the training sessions have been challenging but also focused and precise in purpose, exactly what I’m after. I've finished the week feeling like king of the world. No doubt I’ll be blogging more about this over the coming months. It’s a journey I hope we’ll both enjoy.

Things have just got serious (Better get some more Gin in…)