You will receive lots of support personalised to your needs! You will have access to Russell as often as you wish during the week to answer specific queries to the detail required etc. In short, you get a plan with detailed weekly training with individual sessions shown clearly.
These sessions will be adjusted to your own experience… you may know all about your aerobic heart rate or intensity of hill reps or gym sessions specific to endurance athletes but many don’t know the detail so we discuss your needs and heart rate zones and your nutritional knowledge. It will be an interesting journey to use time effectively and build skills and endurance and strength together. Russell can add value with specific advice on shoes for desert running or the lightest most durable pack for Marathon Des Sables or how to adjust or make simple gaiters far more effective than the ones you see people turning up in. We can advise on acclimatisation for an altitude race (based upon years of training and racing for example at the Leadville Trail 100 mile race at 10,500-12,500 ft or Trans Alpine eight day mega in Europe or the Swiss Alpine K78 etc). Over thirty years of racing and travelling from his NZ base (English originally now living in NZ) coupled with over fifteen years Coaching to athletes all over the world has moulded Russell to be a most professional, results oriented and personable Coach.
Payment
Yes, this is the section you have been searching for… in short contact Russell with your plans and how he can help. Email or phone or in person is fine. However to give you some ideas… typically we charge for the full Coaching package (full assessments, planning, training schedules with explanations, weights as required, nutritional advice, equipment etc) for three month periods in advance. This is non refundable to ensure commitment (ie you have really thought about your plans and time involved etc) and also to book your spot with the very small numbers Russell chooses to work with. A Coach spends a huge amount of time on an athlete early on in the cycle planning ahead… so much so that a change of heart within days or weeks can perhaps have used up weeks of the payment needed very early plus the Coach has turned away others to fit an athlete’s demands into the programme ahead. Please contact me with your requests or ideas and we can quickly see what cost structure will be. It's a successful and personalised service but very competitively priced.
Similarly ‘special’ jobs are often tackled at lower price. For example a programme only for your race is possible with reduced or limited contact with the Coach. This may mean you feel you don’t need your session questions answered or advice on a given nutrition plan etc. again a programme will be paid for three months in advance and on a rolling basis. Sometimes I get approached for particular advice on a person's food for the week at Marathon Des Sables and what may be a good balance for weight vs nutrition, I can charge for just that information and service. Likewise people want to know an opinion on acclimatisation for heat or altitude or some other race challenge. That also is possible. It's often worth getting an experienced and effective opinion to avoid learning errors or time wasted or poor race performance when it could be avoided.
Coach / Athlete Feedback
We have a unique relationship ie the Coach and athlete. To make it the most effective and fruitful for you and get you closer to your medal or race or military selection success we need feedback, hopefully frequently (weekly or more). No, it's not time consuming, it's just perhaps sending your Garmin data back on key sessions so we can make changes or recommendations or maybe a weekly report on how things went this week, how easily or not you coped with volume or what issues we need to deal with to reach set goals or perhaps just saying you were tired so could not do a session. All this gives us vital information to tailor or change things, it's not a tough guy or gal challenge every week… it's about setting effective and agreed training that's going to get us where we need to go. I am not the Coach to set work for your unrealistic goal of winning a 100 mile race when you have never done a marathon, I won’t drive people, take their money, for unrealistic goals which will result in injury or disappointment. We will usually need to incorporate your healthy family life into a schedule. Of course we also strike times in our lives when we have the background and family support to just ‘go for it’ and do a personal best or get a podium place and Russell is set up to accommodate that type of demand also. Likewise we have enjoyed feedback from people just trying to do a first marathon or train to health.
So, the Coach will be in contact regularly, answer your questions or perhaps suggest changes if you need to travel for business unexpectedly. Likewise, we can continually improve your sessions or offer improvements based upon your feedback.
“I was happy with the way I executed the race in line with Russell’s Coaching. Key were rehearsed nutrition, familiarity with the course and adherence to the pace and heart rate zones, particularly on the inclines.”