Create Better Athletes

Coaching should develop independent athletes, not dependent customers.

There was a reason I wrote The Athlete Is the Athlete.

I wanted to challenge the idea that training can be reduced to a template. That the right spreadsheet, the right system, or the right training block is all someone needs to reach their potential.

It isn’t.

One of the biggest problems I see in endurance sports today has nothing to do with physiology.

It’s the belief that there’s one right system. 80/20, Polarized, Threshold, Norwegian, MAF, Daniels, CTS, Zone 2. Every few years, a new framework becomes the answer to everything.

The problem isn’t the methodology. Every one of those systems has produced successful athletes. The problem begins when a framework becomes a religion instead of a tool.

The athlete is always more complex than the program.

Life stress. Training history. Recovery capacity. Injury history. Work. Family. Sleep. Motivation. Strengths. Weaknesses.

Those variables change from person to person, and they change from week to week. Yet a large part of the online coaching world continues to sell certainty. Universal routines. Plug and play plans. Cookie cutter training blocks. “Do this workout and you’ll get these results.”

It’s easier to market a system than it is to teach someone how to think.

Now add AI to the mix, and it’s becoming even noisier.

Social media is filling up with recycled ideas, generic training advice, and AI generated dialogue designed to feed the algorithm. Much of it isn’t created to help athletes become more independent. It’s created to build an audience, reinforce authority, and keep people coming back for the next post, video, product, or coaching program.

The algorithm rewards certainty. It rewards confidence. It doesn’t reward nuance.

Real coaching is often the opposite.

It asks questions. It listens. It adapts. It changes direction when the athlete standing in front of you needs something different than what was written on Monday.

The best coaches I’ve learned from don’t force every athlete into their system. They build the system around the athlete. That’s where progress happens.

Teaching athletes why they’re doing something is just as important as telling them what to do. When people understand the principles behind their training, they stop blindly following a plan and start making better decisions. They know when to push, when to back off, how to adjust when life gets in the way, and how to solve problems when race day inevitably throws something unexpected at them.

The goal of coaching shouldn’t be to create athletes who depend on a coach forever. It should be to develop athletes who become confident decision makers.

Races don’t follow spreadsheets.

Weather changes. Nutrition fails. Gear breaks. You take a wrong turn. You roll an ankle. Your stomach shuts down.

The plan always unravels. Athletes who understand the why’s and how’s can adapt.

Athletes who only know how to follow a schedule often struggle the moment reality and expectations doesn’t match the spreadsheet.

That’s one of the biggest differences I see between coaching for controlled environments and coaching for ultras.

A lot of endurance training today reminds me of a Ferrari.

It’s incredible… on the right road.

Perfect pavement. Predictable conditions. Every watt accounted for. Every pace calculated. Every variable controlled.

But ultrarunning doesn’t happen on perfect roads.

It’s pouring rain. The trail disappears. Your feet are soaked. You’re climbing over rocks. Your poles snap. You’re two hours from the next aid station. The weather turns.

You still have to keep moving.

In ultras, we’re rarely afforded the luxury of perfect conditions. The farther you get into the mountains, the larger the consequences become when things don’t go according to plan.

Data is valuable. I use it every day. But data isn’t wisdom.

Data informs decisions. Experience teaches judgment.

That’s why I don’t coach spreadsheets. I coach athletes.

I want the people I work with to understand what we’re trying to accomplish, not simply complete another workout.

If an athlete eventually outgrows me because they understand their body, know how to adapt, and can make smart decisions on their own… Then I’ve done my job.

Because the ultimate goal of coaching isn’t to create better followers.

It’s to create better athletes