Coaching Philosophy
If you’ve stumbled upon this page, I believe that some part of you, deep inside, is willing to run a very long way *without* being chased by a bear, *without* a profit motive… and I’ll take a wild guess that your name isn’t Pheidippides and you don’t live in Ancient Greece, either. Whether you are striving to accomplish something new, improve your health, run your best marathon or attain a greater sense of happiness, something is giving you that “spark” to run. Yet, in this bustling internet and influencer-driven age of information overload, there seem to be a million and one opinions (often contradictory) on *how* to go about doing it safely, effectively, and joyfully!
My goal as a coach is to take that noise away, stay within my scope of practice, and focus on doing what I do best so that you can focus on the running part (which is hard enough if you ask me!):
– Creating personalized training plans based on YOUR needs and goals
– Providing a support system that will help you navigate the ups and downs of your running journey
– Helping you understand how and why what we do together is helpful for you as an individual
– Listening and working around your limitations and responsibilities outside of running
– Making tough decisions when necessary to help you avoid overtraining and burnout
– Keeping your “spark” burning brightly by making your training as fun as possible
In the same vein, there are some things I will never do as a coach:
– I do not use cookie cutter templates, artificial intelligence or take on more clients than I know I can handle (typically I limit myself to about 10 coaching plans at one time). I make everything from scratch, have contact with my athletes nearly every single day, and I never charge for additional communication. I have the privilege of being able to do this for the "love of the game" and have no ambitions to run a paint-by-numbers, assembly line-style coaching business for the sake of maximizing profit.
– I am not an influencer, content creator or brand ambassador, nor do I have a transactional relationship with any running company, so I will never push products, methods, or services onto you for my own gain, and none of my attention is devoted to content creation or enriching myself with brand partnerships. Any recommendations are purely based on my own experience and opinions, and I will never allow any conflict of interest to interfere with how I run my coaching business and how I devote my time to my athletes.
– I am not a registered dietitian, so I will never preach a specific diet, weight-shame or discourage you from enjoying food (but I am happy to make general fueling recommendations and share tasty recovery meal ideas!). If necessary I am able to refer my athletes to a wonderful dietitian who is qualified to have those conversations and make informed suggestions.
– I am not a medical professional, so I will never attempt to diagnose an injury, claim to know how to "fix" your injury, or push treatments on you. If necessary I am able to refer my New York City athletes to a wonderful local physical therapy practice that specializes in runners who can provide qualified opinions.
– I will never allow you to waste a good failure and will always help you “find the win” in your training and racing, no matter what happens!
Whether you are a first-timer or highly competitive, trying to master the walk/run method or finally achieve that Boston Qualifying time, I would look forward to supporting you as you take the next important step on your running journey and I encourage you to reach out!