DAVE COOMBS

My passion for endurance sports started very young, watching the Coe v Ovett v Cram middle distance duels at home with my Dad, then as a teenager racing mountain bikes in the early days of the UK MTB scene in and around Bristol; and running cross-country at school. Moving to study in Edinburgh didn’t dampen this passion for the outdoors, taking up rock climbing seriously for a few years before finding my way back to cycling and running in my 20s. My passion for running grew into a full blown obsession from here, when I discovered Fell Running whilst living in Shropshire. Here was a sport that combined everything I loved: the aerobic demands of endurance racing, the technical challenge of mountain biking, and the raw beauty of moving through wild landscapes. When I moved to Australia in my late 20’s I took my running to the next level, pursuing bigger challenges on the road and in the trail ultra-running world. Studying Physio was a natural fit for my love of movement and sport, with my coaching journey evolving on the back of my Physio practice and my own running experience. I have always strived to learn from the best, and constantly strive to stay up to date with the latest coaching and sports science literature.

My philosophy of coaching is built on a few key principles:

• Technique. Running is a highly technical and complex movement. Even though most people can run, only a very few truly master an efficient running technique (you can learn more about my running technique coaching here).

• Health. Before you can think of becoming an athlete, you need to make sure you are a healthy person. Health comes first, fitness comes second.

• ​Recovery. Even more important than hard training sessions is giving you body and mind the time and space to recover. If you aren’t recovering, you aren’t going to make gains and your training is a waste of time.

• Consistency. It is crucial to build your fitness consistently over time.

• Tracking. Tracking your training numbers is essential - we need to make sure you are making progress and not overtraining.

• Hard work. At some point you need to put in the training.

Although I don't consider myself an elite runner, through focussing on the things listed above I managed to complete and be competitive in many events over the years with a few highlights being:

• Winning my first MTB XC race as a junior - circa 1991!!

• Finisher of over 40 marathon and ultra distance running races from 42.2k to 100 mile - road and trail.

• 5 time finisher and 3 time winner of Kokoda Challenge (96km 4 person team trail running event)

• Winner of Spartan Race Ultra Beast (42km obstacle course race)

• 4 time finisher and 2x in the top 20 of Ultra Trail Australia 100k

• Winner of Glasshouse 100 miler

• Road PBs: 10k: 33:18; HM: 1:17; M: 2:45

• ​Trail PBs: 100k: 11:30; 100mi 16:45

I love sharing the knowledge I have gained over the many years I have been involved in endurance sport and still like to push myself and my athletes to achieve the best we possibly can. If you are interested in my services or have any other questions about running, or training then please get in touch!