Running Coaching
Marathon and ultra-marathon specialist coaching for busy athletes. A dedicated coach, a plan built around your life, and the support to solve problems when reality diverges from the plan.
Who we coach
Rich specialises in marathon and ultra-marathon preparation, but looks after a broad spectrum of runners — from first half-marathons through to athletes pushing for major championship qualification. With enough time, he can help you prepare for any type of running event.
What's included in Squad Membership
Training & planning
- Personalised running training plan tailored to your fitness, objectives and lifestyle
- Training managed via TrainingPeaks, uploaded in 2-week blocks
- Macro-plan designed to peak you for goal events or racing season
- Pre-race briefings with course analysis, pacing, fuelling and hydration strategy
- Advice on nutrition, race skills, injury prevention and training management
- Personalised strength and conditioning plans — the fourth discipline
Coach support
- Dedicated support from an experienced running coach
- At least one monthly catch-up call
- Unlimited WhatsApp and email communication, including a weekly check-in
- Advice and feedback on strength training technique
- Problem-solving when life diverges from the plan — injuries, busy work periods, and more
Analysis & testing
- On-going analysis and benchmarking using my own custom build application
- Online dynamic screening for the preparation of your tailored and periodised strength training programming
- Personalised strength and conditioning plans tracked and analysed in the same way as your endurance training
- Running gait analysis from footage supplied to your coach
Resources & extras
- Library of specifically curated on-demand yoga sessions
- Stretch routines, strength and prehab exercises
- In-ear coached audio run files
- Training articles and knowledge resources
- 300+ library of self-performed strength exercise guidance videos
Squad Membership pricing
Squad Membership
£90/month
or £459 for a 6-month block (15% saving)
6-month blocks receive a 15% discount; 12-month blocks receive a 20% discount.
Refer a friend to any RIAK squad membership and both enjoy 20% off squad fees for 3 months.
Your coaching journey
Free consultation
A short call to discuss your needs, experience and how I can best be of service.
Onboarding & screening
We set up your dynamic screening — simple squat movements and mobility tests to build your bespoke strength plan. Do not worry, this is not an intense session.
Plan built & uploaded
I will build a draft macro-plan and upload your first few weeks of training. We will seek to build confidence before even mentioning fitness testing.
Ongoing support & race prep
Regular check-ins, plan adjustments, pre-race briefings and unlimited communication as you progress towards your goals.
Running events we coach for
- Marathon des Sables
- All UTMB events
- London Cross Country Championships
- The Great South Run
- Berlin Marathon
- Kilimanjaro marathon
- Rat Race's The Wall
- Montane Cheviot Goat
- The Spine Race
Why RIAK is different
- As a former City lawyer who also competed in this stuff myself, I excel at helping busy individuals find balance between their training and the rest of life's stressors.
- Personalised training that puts recovery at the heart and reflects an individual's life as it is in reality, not an idealised version.
- Leveraging my experience as a personal trainer to build tailored and periodised strength programmes for all my athletes. A service few other coaches provide.
- Frustrated at the analytics and UIs of the major platforms, I have built my own custom application that helps both myself and my athletes understand what the metrics say and what it all really means.
- I have built an extensive library of resources for my athletes, including a series of bespoke yoga sessions, warm-ups, stretch routines, training articles and more!
- A 300+ library of self-performed strength exercises to guide my athletes in performing their strength training with good form.
Learn more about our approach on our About Us page.
Frequently asked questions
A good running coach can offer so much more than effective planning of your training. Much is made of AI and smart training plans and we agree that they can be very good for providing the framework of a great plan. I have even consulted on a couple!
However, the major limitation of AI training plans on their own is they do not help you when your life in reality diverges from what is programmed. Training plans don't teach athletes how to manage a niggle or when to take the foot off the gas if other aspects of their life are crazy. A training plan rarely helps a runner improve their skills or teach them race pacing strategies. It definitely doesn't help them put together a fuelling and hydration plan or teach them how to recover after a session.
A running coach however, can do all these things and more! They are in the trenches with you and are probably the only person that cares about your training and performance as much as you do!
We look after a very broad spectrum of athletes. From people doing their first half-marathon up to people pushing to qualify for major championships — and this is how we like it!
It's easy to just focus on the more elite athletes and bask in their reflective glory but so often we've gotten immense satisfaction out of athletes at the other end of the spectrum as they take on board our advice and really push forwards.
Another way of thinking about having a running coach is that it is much the same as having a personal trainer. We just tend to be much skinnier and be more into our data!
Not as such. However, we do require a certain amount of notice if an athlete wants to roll off at any point. The specifics depend on the coaching relationship but it is typically one or two months.
We require a notice period to enable us to manage our coaching resources and ensure athletes are spread appropriately across our coaching team.
As a general rule we only offer discounts in two scenarios:
1) Squad members have the opportunity to benefit from a discount when recommending a friend to one of our triathlon, cycling or run squad memberships. If that friend signs up, both will enjoy a fantastic 20% off their squad member fees for 3 months!
2) Squad members can enjoy discounts for committing to a 6 or 12-month block. Currently, they receive a 15% discount for purchasing a 6-month block and a 20% discount for a 12-month block.
Ready to get started?
Ready to begin working with your dedicated running coach and build that tailored training plan? Book a free consultation or drop us an email with your requirements.
Explore our other coaching services: Triathlon coaching · Cycling coaching · Hyrox coaching