Often within the first week of training with Higher Running, our coaches hear something along the lines of “This is even better than I expected!” or “I already learned so much!” Not only are our coaches explaining different runs and how to do them correctly, we’re also explaining the why behind their training, leaving education notes or mindset tips, and answering questions they may not have thought to ask yet.
That’s what we want for every athlete. To feel supported, understand your training, and see real progress. Coaching is our career and something we love, and we’ve been helping runners reach their goals since 2014.
Every coach on our team works with a small group of athletes and that’s intentional. You’ll never be one of 100+ athletes on someone’s roster. You’ll have a coach who knows your training, your goals, and your life, and who has the time to give you their best.
Our coaches also work together as a team. We share what we’re learning, talk through challenges, and stay current on what’s happening in the sport. Each coach brings their own strengths and perspective, and that makes every one of us a better coach for you.
Whether you’re chasing anything from a BQ to an OTQ, or heading into the mountains for your next ultra, you’ll be matched with a coach whose experience fits where you are and where you want to go.
If you’ve ever browsed coaching websites, you’ve probably noticed they all say pretty similar things. But as many athletes have found out, the actual experience can be very different depending on who you work with. That’s why we wanted to show you what coaching with us really looks like. This only scratches the surface, and it’s hard to capture everything until you experience it. But when you read our coaching page, we want you to know we mean every word. We go above and beyond because we truly care about every athlete we work with.
Here’s what getting started looks like.
Step 1: Your intro call
Your first step is a free 20-30 minute introductory call to help ensure you and your coach will be a good fit. It’s your time to get to know us, hear how coaching works at Higher Running, and make sure it feels like the right fit before you commit.
You’ll get the most out of coaching with us if you want a real partnership with good communication, a plan built just for you, and to understand the why behind your training.
Step 2: Everything you need from day one
Once you’re in, you’ll get a full set of tools so you can start with confidence. Here’s a brief description of a few things you’ll receive:
- Terminology guide & zones chart. Each workout type is broken down into its purpose, how to do it, what not to do, and a quick summary. It’s built around effort and the talk test, with heart rate zones as a guide, so you always know what a workout should feel like.
- Workout history sheet. A place to see your key workouts and your progress over time. We also use this data as a way to help us understand how you’re responding to the training.
- Yearly planner. Helps you see the bigger picture of your season, not just your next race.
- Onboarding guide. A detailed guide that includes how to communicate with your coach and get the most out of Final Surge.
Step 3: Your intake form and deep dive call
Your intake form is where you tell us your story. Your running history, your goals, how you think about training, and what life looks like right now with work, family, and your schedule.
Your coach reads every answer before your first call, so they come in prepared. Together you’ll dig into your training history, how you view training, what kind of schedule will actually fit your life, and everything else that’s relevant to helping us coach you to the best of our abilities. You’ll leave understanding how to run your workouts and why your training is built the way it is.
Step 4: Your first weeks of training
Before writing a single workout, your coach asks a few questions, one being: what’s most likely holding you back right now? For some runners it’s their aerobic base. For others it’s speed, holding pace late in a race, fueling, strength, or confidence. Once we know, your training is built to strengthen that piece.
With this in mind, your plan is written from scratch, just for you. Your coach uses your intake form, your goals, and your call notes to build your first week or two, and every workout comes with what to do and why. And when life changes, whether it’s a work trip, a sick kid, or a tough week, your plan changes with it.
During your first couple of weeks you’ll also set SMART goals that your coach can help you with. Some will be performance goals, like a time or a race. Others will support you as a whole athlete, like building a stronger mindset, training more consistently, getting more sleep, or fueling better.
Step 5: Real feedback on your runs
Coaching works best as a conversation. We ask every athlete to leave a comment after each run. It can be a quick line or a longer note when you have more to share.
We look closely at your data, but what we care about most is how it lines up with how you feel. When you feel good and your effort, your pace, and your body all tell the same story, we know you’re on track. When they don’t, that’s not a bad thing. It’s useful information that helps us coach you better, and your comments tell us what the numbers can’t.
Additionally, your coach looks at your easy runs to see if they were truly easy and at your workouts to see how you paced them. You’ll hear what can improve and exactly what you did well, so you keep learning and getting better.
We also pay attention to what you might not mention. If you report pain or low energy, we’ll ask about your sleep, fueling, and stress. If you go quiet, we’ll check in. And if work or family gets busy, we want to know so we can help.
Step 6: As you keep training
The care you feel in your first few weeks doesn’t fade. As the months go on, you and your coach revisit your goals and update your yearly planner as your season takes shape. Before big races, you’ll meet with your coach and work through a race planning guide together, so you’re as prepared as possible on race day.
You’ll also be encouraged to reflect throughout the year, and especially after every race. What worked? What didn’t? What do you want to do differently next time? Those little reviews help you learn from every experience, and they help your coach make your next block even better.
It’s this kind of consistent care that keeps athletes with us. Many of our coaching relationships have lasted for years, and some of our athletes have been with us for close to a decade or longer.
One athlete’s story
Harsh had been chasing a sub 3 marathon since his first NYC Marathon in 2018. By the time we started working together, he’d run 19 marathons and brought himself to a 3:07 through his own research and hard work. On paper he was doing a lot right, but he was stuck and wondering what to change.
When we looked at his past training together, the answer wasn’t more speed work. His body needed to get comfortable handling more mileage first. So we spent a summer building him into the sixties with light, purposeful workouts, and he kept telling us how strong he felt.
The next year, he PR’d at three races in a row, including a 1:28:16 half marathon on a hilly course. That’s more than three minutes off his previous best. And when he crossed the line, he wasn’t surprised. His training had already told us he was ready.
Harsh told us he hadn’t felt that confident going into a race in a long time. Sub 3 isn’t a question of if for him anymore. It’s when.
Our core values
All of this comes from a few values we hold close, in coaching and in life.
Joy
Joy and high performance go together. When you love what you’re doing, you train more consistently and race with more confidence.
Kindness and Respect
Every athlete gets our full attention and gets treated with kindness and respect. That kindness extends to the people we race against, other coaches, ourselves, animals, and the planet we run on.
Integrity
Every plan is built from scratch for you and adjusted as training unfolds. We do what we say we’ll do, and we do it with intention and care.
Excellence
We hold ourselves to high standards in everything we do as coaches. Our coaches work together, share what we’re learning, and stay current on best practices, so every athlete gets the best coaching we can give.
Whole Person Care
You’re more than your training log. Sleep, stress, work, and family all affect how you run, so we care about all of it.
Ready to get started?
If this sounds like the kind of coaching you’ve been looking for, we’d be so happy to talk with you. Book your free intro call and we’ll take it from there.