The rewards of being a coach

Knowing that you have helped an athlete work towards and achieve their goal is a great feeling.

This week marked the half way point for the 'London Marathon' athletes that I am coaching. We have had eight weeks of build up, still keeping a weekly speed session but increasing endurance over longer runs, including progressive paced runs and some training at marathon pace.

Each of my athletes had a target pace and completion time to aim for at this weekend's 20 mile race and I was delighted that they both achieved this, feeling strong and very happy with their performance.

But we still have eight weeks to go. We have carefully planned this together, including 'recovery weeks' (essential to avoid fatigue and/or injury in the critical high mileage phase of the training plan) and some targeted races to help 'keep sharp' and keep that marathon goal achievable.

In addition to marathon prep, I am working with two athletes currently training for a half marathon. For one, it is their first half, so we are carefully building the long run distance; keeping a weekly speed session and, as they are a regular parkrunner, we have kept this in the plan too. Training is all about enjoying what you are doing so if athletes are club runners, I always ensure they have the chance to train with their 'running family' and as a keen parkrunner myself, I completely understand the 'buzz' that these events can provide both mentally and physically.

And of course, I can't forget the junior athletes that I coach each week. The youngsters work on a rotation of activities and this week enjoyed running sprint relays; learning about fartlek and developing their understanding of a dynamic warm up and essential cool down. We also worked on some 'Sportshall Athletics' field event skills including speed bounce, standing long jump and chest push. The youngsters love the competitive element of their training and the healthy competition between then as they run, jump and throw is great to see.

It has been a really successful week with lots of happy athletes, all keen to progress to the next part of their training programme. Coaching is certainly very rewarding and knowing that you have helped athletes feel positive and happy about their own training is a great feeling.