This page gives details of what is available to MAC Senior members. Coaching of Juniors works differently and is detailed here.
Firstly, it is worth pointing out that our entire team of coaches, run leaders and instructors are volunteers. The club could not operate without them and is always on the lookout for new coaches to join the team. It is an incredibly rewarding experience, a chance to expand your knowledge & skills and costs are fully reimbursed by the club in return for a modest commitment to the coaching rota! More details here.
All senior members are welcome at our regular sessions each week. The following sessions are led by qualified coaches, leaders or instructors:
- Interval Session (Tuesday)
- Circuit Training (Thursday)
- Track & Field event specific sessions during the summer (e.g. Throws etc.)
Coaches, leaders and instructors plan and deliver these sessions to be suitable for all attendees, adapting the activities as necessary to include everyone. Session briefings and general advice to help athletes understand the benefits and avoid pitfalls will be given. Coaches are also available to give specific advice to individuals, and this may either be offered by coaches, or requested by athletes.
Social runs on Wednesday & Sunday are planned and coordinated led by run leaders or routemasters under the guidance of our coaching team. The focus of these activities is safely completing one of the various routes on offer and do not include any aspect of coaching or advice. Coaches, however, may well be present on these runs, and are usually happy to answer questions if you have them!
So if you would like some input or feedback, please ask! Coaches actively encourage you to ask them for advice, as while there is a lot of information in books and online, not all of it is helpful and very little of it will be specific to you as an athlete. You can read more about the potential pitfalls of following ‘generic’ training plans here.
It may be that in either of these scenarios, there won’t be scope to give input or answer a query then and there either due to their being no quick, simple answer, or in order to continue the session safely for other participants. If so, a coach will explain the options: The coach may be able to provide more information later – for example to give some specific advice, review and feedback on an existing plan or share some appropriate resource on training methods, technique, race preparation etc. For more in depth requests: e.g. creating a personalised training plan, heavily tailoring an existing plan, 1:1 coaching & personal training etc., the coach may offer this as an additional service. If the coach is qualified, insured and willing to offer this, they will explain their process and costs. If they are not, they can direct you to a coach who can. For ease, we will publish a list of coaches and the services they offer below.
In summary, here’s what coaches can do as a volunteer for the club1, and what they may do seperately as their own venture:
Club:
- Regular Club Sessions
- General training advice
- Specific training advice & ad-hoc queries from athletes
Seperate:
- Highly personalised, in depth services such as individual training plans
- 1:1 coaching
- Extra sessions outside of club training times
Not provided:
- Generic Training Plans
- Note that the commitment is contingent on availability of volunteer coaches, not a guaranteed service included with your membership. ↩︎