I've done it !!

Well, I've passed my final written exam and practical assessments to become a fully qualified UK Athletics running coach :)

I have to say that I spent more time revising for this than I have for any other exam in my life..... The exam has 10 sections and a complete fail in any one of them means that you would fail the written exam....

I don't think I appreciated when I started quite how big a step it was to go from being a running leader to a coach. Over the last 6 months I have been studying nutrition, running technique, coaching technique, creating training plans and planning sessions to cover energy systems, technique and not forgetting the health and safety ! I certainly underestimated the amount of paperwork involved....

After the first weekend away training (two very full days) we had a break of about a month to put what we had learnt in to practice. This was followed by another full day training to see how we had developed and how we had progressed our personal action plans as well as completing set tasks such as a very thorough athlete profile and training plan. It was then over to us to complete our individual coaching diaries.... this did take longer than I thought; with detailed feedback needed from each documented session. Only when my training diary was passed could I book my place on the final assessment day....

I have certainly learnt an awful lot along the way; it has helped me improve my own running as well as my coaching and I'm really looking forward to using the skills I have learnt. I am lucky enough to now be coaching at two local running clubs but if any local runners are looking for personal training plans and coaching then please contact me :)