For those who don't know- I'm coached by Nick Anderson. He also coaches Andy Vernon, Tom Payn, Louise Damen, Toby Lambert to name but a few! I met Nick when I was at school and a 4.26 (!) 1500m runner at the age of 15 or 16. He did a lot with the school team but I was just starting to take running a bit more seriously then and was keen for some extra guidance. From then on it’s really been the same philosophy throughout: tempo work and mileage making up the core of my training with sessions filling in the gaps depending on my goals.

Nick’s always maintained my best achievements would be at the longer distances, and this has been at the heart of the long-term progression, even when I’ve been focussing on good track seasons or running really well over the country.

These days Nick rarely sees me train, and I meet up with him occasionally for a run or catch up, but most of it is done over the phone or email, where we speak twice a week or so. After 12 years now I’ve got a pretty good feel of what’s expected and the structure hasn’t changed – just the sessions and occasionally the emphasis on the most important sessions.  I don’t think he really needs to be there for training sessions. He knows my strengths/weaknesses as well as I do and I don’t need someone there calling out times to motivate me. I’m sensible enough to make decision on my own if something’s not right, as well as to give myself a kick up the ass if I’m being soft.

We’ve had the odd run-in, although not for a while. There were a few times at uni when I maybe wasn’t looking after myself as much as I should be, or letting some other things take priority over races here and there, whether that be girlfriends or university races that Nick didn’t regard as very important! These days I think he trusts me to get on with it and if he felt I wasn’t worth the effort or his time as I wasn’t giving the right attitude, he’d let me go alone, which is fair enough.

In terms of what else Nick gives me – some people have asked about ‘motivation’ and mental approach to races. To be honest, we don’t focus too much on this. He’ll give me a pep talk before races but I rarely freak out or get overexcited and also rarely have my mind elsewhere. Quite often, just a small reminder of why I’m there is all that’s needed. He also has helped with how to look after myself in terms of diet and physio/looking after injuries, which has been very useful when I may be at a loss.

I’d say that Nick knows me better than almost anyone. He knows what I find hard and what is likely to get me down or make me struggle to motivate myself. After the Euro Cross Trials at Liverpool once I came about 50^th, expecting to be top 15 and threw my vest off in disgust and didn’t run for about 2 months, with any purpose. He didn’t rant at me, or smother me with encouragement or compliments, just let it me get it out of my system, and then got me going again when I was ready. 

We’ve got stuff wrong – overraced; chased short term goals at the expense of long term ones; focussed on races we shouldn’t etc but it’s been a learning curve and my improvement has been massive since I met Nick. He’d be the first to say that’s down to me, but I believe wholeheartedly in my training, and if I didn’t, we’d chat about it. I’m not someone who follows training blindly, without understanding it – I need to think I’m doing it right, and I really do. No doubt he saw my strengths and weaknesses and has nudged me in the right direction with training, as well as giving me some belief: I’m not the most positive sometimes and tend to err on the side of pessimistic and hope to surprise myself but Nick has given me that shove quite a few times over the years!