How to Choose a Running Coach

Experience, Education & Professionalism

When you hire a coach, you’re not just paying for a training plan. You’re trusting someone with your goals, your time, your health, and your motivation. That trust should never be taken lightly.

Coaching might look fun from the outside, and it can be. But it’s also a serious profession that demands ongoing learning, self-awareness, and time spent in the trenches. At its core, coaching is an act of service. It’s not about a coach’s pace, personal records, or ego. It’s about helping the athlete in front of you succeed.

When Choosing a Running Coach Experience & Credentials Matter

Education gives a coach the foundation. Experience gives them the understanding. You need both.

The problem is that in the current landscape, many coaching certifications are easy to obtain. Some are excellent, but others lack rigor. Many don’t have an in-person component, mentorship requirements, or meaningful testing. A coach can pass an online quiz, print a certificate, and start charging money the next day.

Combine that with the fact that the running coaching industry is largely unregulated, and it becomes far too easy for someone to appear qualified when they’re not. A certificate looks legitimate, but without experience, it’s just paper.

That’s why I believe new coaches should spend at least a year or two coaching for free. Volunteer. Shadow an experienced coach. Work with friends who know they’re helping you learn. There’s no shame in that. In fact, it’s the only ethical way to develop your craft.

Learning on paying athletes is not fair to them. It’s not right to charge someone while you’re still figuring out how to structure training, communicate effectively, or navigate setbacks. Early coaching years should be about building understanding, not income.

Why Experience Shapes Great Running Coaches

Experience teaches what no course ever can. It teaches you what to do when things don’t go according to plan. It gives you a sense for when to push and when to hold. It exposes you to the thousand little details that make a program successful.

Experienced coaches recognize patterns. They know what overtraining looks like before it becomes an injury. They can connect the dots between a runner’s life stress, fatigue, and performance. They’ve had the hard conversations, made mistakes, and learned from them.

Education provides the science. Experience provides the judgment. The best coaches are students for life, constantly blending both.

Fast Runners Do Not Make Great Running Coaches

Speed and coaching ability are not the same thing. Some of the most accomplished runners in the world make poor coaches because they’ve never had to learn how to translate their experience into someone else’s context. While this is most certainly not always the case, it's something to factor in when choosing a coach.

Don’t just look for fast. Look for engaged, educated individuals with a proven track record of success with the people they serve. Coaching isn’t about what you’ve done for yourself. It’s about what you’ve helped others accomplish.

A fast runner might impress you, but a thoughtful coach will change your running.

The Hobby Problem

Running coaching attracts people who love the sport, which is a good thing. But it also attracts people who see it as a side hustle. There are certainly coaches who balance another career and still do this professionally and attentively. But too often, we hear the other stories.

Athletes who wait weeks for feedback. Training schedules that go unpublished. Coaches who forget about races. Missed follow-ups. Missed communication. The kind of stuff that would never fly in any other professional field.

That’s not coaching. That’s carelessness.

If you are coaching athletes, you have a responsibility to meet the demands of the job. That means being organized, responsive, and invested. It means staying up to date on the science and staying aware of what’s happening in your athletes’ lives. It means showing up.

And it means being a coach first, athlete second.

A coach who approaches this profession primarily as an athlete is doing their clients a disservice. Your training, your racing, and your goals cannot take precedence over the people who trust you. This is a service role. You are there to guide, to support, and to be consistent.

Why Writing, Teaching, and Sharing Knowledge Matter

One of the most telling ways to evaluate a coach’s depth of understanding is to look at what they share.

Do they write about training theory? Talk about the process behind performance? Share insights or reflections in a way that helps others learn? Coaches who write, teach, or speak about their craft tend to develop a level of clarity and mastery that only comes from having to communicate what they know.

It’s one thing to learn a topic. It’s another to explain it in a way that’s accurate, engaging, and accessible. Writing about running or discussing it on a podcast forces a coach to organize their thoughts, refine their reasoning, and translate theory into practical language. That process builds understanding.

This kind of public sharing also invites accountability. Coaches who put their ideas out there are opening themselves to feedback, questions, and even critique. That willingness to engage in dialogue shows humility and a genuine commitment to growth. It’s not that every great coach needs to host a podcast or publish articles every week. But a consistent pattern of curiosity and communication says a lot. It shows they care about advancing the conversation, not just selling a service.

I’d be cautious of coaches who never do this kind of reflective work. If someone isn’t writing, teaching, or discussing their approach anywhere, it may suggest they’re not evolving, or that they rely too heavily on what they’ve already learned. Coaching is a thinking profession. The ability to articulate your ideas is part of what separates a skilled practitioner from someone who’s simply repeating formulas.

When a coach shares their knowledge, they’re not just showing what they know. They’re showing how they think , and that’s what you want to understand before trusting them with your training.

Testimonials

Testimonials can tell you a lot about a coach, but only if you know what to look for.

It’s easy to be impressed by a handful of flashy success stories or personal bests, but those don’t always tell the full story. What you want to pay attention to is how athletes talk about their coach. Are they describing someone who helped them improve as a runner and as an athlete? Someone who communicated clearly, adapted to their life, and helped them stay healthy and consistent?

Look for patterns in the feedback. If multiple athletes talk about feeling supported, understood, and guided through both highs and lows, that’s a strong indicator of good coaching. True coaching impact shows up in longevity, consistency, and confidence, not just one standout race result.

It’s also worth noting that not all athletes who thrive with a coach are the fastest or the most competitive. Some are busy parents finding balance. Some are coming back from injury. Some are chasing a Boston qualifier or finishing their first 5K. The mark of an excellent coach is the ability to meet each of them where they are and help them progress.

Be cautious of testimonials that only focus on times and podiums. Speed is great, but it’s not proof of coaching quality. Look for evidence of communication, professionalism, and care.

Why Experienced Coaches Cost More

When you hire an experienced coach, you are paying for more than their time. You are paying for:

• Years of trial and error. Lessons learned through mistakes that you don’t have to make.

• Pattern recognition. The ability to identify small issues before they become big ones.

• Applied education. Knowledge that’s been tested in real-world situations, not just read in a book.

• Confidence and calm under pressure. The ability to adapt quickly when things go wrong.

• Consistency and reliability. The systems and structure that ensure your plan is delivered, reviewed, and updated when it needs to be.

Those things take years to build. They’re the difference between a “coach” and a professional coach.

Questions Worth Asking Before You Hire a Coach

If you want to separate the professionals from the pretenders, ask:

1. What are you learning about right now?

2. What courses or books have shaped your coaching this year?

3. How has your approach evolved in recent years?

4. Who are your mentors?

5. Do you write, teach, or share your knowledge publicly?

6. Where can I learn more about your philosophy?

7. How do you adapt your methods to the runner in front of you?

A professional coach won’t be put off by these questions. They’ll welcome them.

The Bottom Line

There’s nothing wrong with being new. Everyone starts somewhere. What matters is how you start. Take time to learn. Make mistakes when no one’s paying you to make them. Find mentors. Read everything. Ask questions.

Coaching is not a side hustle. It’s a profession. And if you’re an athlete looking for a coach, look for someone who treats it like one. Someone who takes the responsibility seriously, who learns relentlessly, and who sees coaching as service, not self-promotion.

Because when you find that kind of coach, it shows. In your growth, your progress, and your confidence.

Ask hard questions. You deserve a coach who can answer them.