I'm not a Coach

Warning:  I'm not a coach.

I tweak training plans, write plans for runners, make plans to run, share plans I've written, dissect plans written by other people, follow plans given by my coach, or don't follow them... but don't tell him that... And for the most part before I do these things I remember to preface it with:

I'm not a coach.

I freely share my thoughts on this sport, why I run the way I do, what I think contributes to my injuries, what I think I could have done to prevent them, what my treatments are that work and what treatments I feel are a waste of time, and when I'm running well and injury free, why I think I'm running well and injury free...

But I'm not a coach.

I have 20,000 opinions on cross training, which ones work best for me and how much I do them and for what duration and what I wish I could do more often and what I will never do again because of one thing or another....

But, again, I am not a coach.

This week though, I think I forgot that for a few minutes.  I wrote and shared a 10K training plan... er, or two.  Then I tweaked a marathon plan for a friend of a friend, and then shared a previously tweaked plan for another friend.  I was solicited on FB by someone I don't know, but who knows someone who met someone who knew me back in the day who was aware that this summer I stressed my hamstring muscle and wanted to know what I did for it.  I told him, but I also said, "If not better in a week, see a real MD cos what I did and what you did might be two different things."  My biggest crime though, was on Tuesday, when I palpated a muscle, fielded "how should I get through my running this week",  and then suggested my friend should visit an MD if "not better by Friday or Saturday"....

THOUGH, THAT TIME I did remind her that "I'm not a coach... this is my experience as a runner and what you are sharing is somewhat alarming."

And one day when I am a coach, I hope that I still have the conscience that I have today, that I'm humble about my opinions.  That I remember that there are always two schools of thought at least, but probably more like 20.  I hope I remember to be cautious with what I say to my friends, their friends, random facebook stalkers, and the people who call me coach.

But for the moment, whenever I say anything, let's all try to remember:  I'm not a coach.  Yet.