Coach Profile Q&A – Nick Muxlow
Your Coaching Philosophy
- What inspired you to become a running coach and how has your personal journey in the sport shaped your coaching style and philosophy?
My coaching journey began as an 18-year-old, coaching juniors, progressing from my love of lacrosse in childhood and early adult life, which I lived for. From there I journeyed to triathlon, having various coaches, coaching myself, and then made the switch to straight running in my 30’s. In each of these sports running was the bit I Ioved most, I simply hadn’t considered ‘just’ running.
Coupled with this I went to university and studied Human Movement (Exercise and Sports Science) and Education. After teaching for a few years I decided that I would give professional coaching a go. I was the perfect sweet spot. It combined my love of sport, science, education and running all into one.
My coaching style and philosophy has been largely influenced through the coaches I had through team sports, triathlon and running as well as my background in education and sports science. Everything has combined to shape the way in which I work with runners. For anyone interested to understand my full coaching philosophy it would be worth reading a book I wrote “Run Fit – Improve your running, finish with a smile”.
It’s my belief that there are five overarching areas a runner must cover, mindset, fitness, skills, having a sound game plan and recovery. This is then broken down further into the 15 pillars of performance. The other option to understand more about the training principles I use is to read “Journey to 100 – How to finish your first 100km ultramarathon and love it”.
I sum it up by saying I have a holistic athlete centered approach working with half, full, trail and ultramarathon runners to allow them to improve their running and finish with a smile. I love to foster a positive self-belief in the runner and guide them on how to train and why. The runners find this very empowering.
2. What brings you the most enjoyment or satisfaction from run coaching? Tell us about a specific moment in your coaching journey that brings you the most pride or joy.
Seeing any runner, I work with finish with a smile is what it is all about. Whether that be someone completing a marathon or ultra-marathon for the first time, getting a PB or standing on the podium. Each of the runners I work with have different personal goals and reasons for running. If they finish with a smile, I know they have achieved to their personal best regardless of the outcome, everything else is a bonus.
There are so many remarkable performances that runners I work with have achieved that it’s hard to single one out. How do you differentiate between PB of over 1 hour, podium finishers, Ultra Journey runners going top 2 at the Australian Long Course Trail Championships or finishing their first ultra? From the runner’s perspective these are all equal in my book as for each this was their own personal goal.
However, the first one that stands out would be Kazu winning the Yurrebilla Ultra Marathon, South Australia’s largest ultra. As a result, I don’t see it as any different to the other results mentioned above but this was the first major result, I achieved coaching a runner. This gave me immense belief in myself. That the coaching methods and philosophy I use work.
The Runners You Coach
3. Tell us a little about who and where you coach.
I work with runners who want to get more out of their running. They want to have an amazing experience training and racing and want to continually create memories that last a lifetime. They also get to join a community of likeminded runners. They want the knowledge and experience of myself as a coach to allow them to safely and enjoyably push their comfort zones to achieve goals and results that would otherwise be unattainable.
I predominantly work with trail and ultra-runners but I also have a few half and full marathon runners who I coach. They are all over Australia and overseas as I focus on online run coaching. This works particularly well for people who are time crunched or have busy work/ family lives and need lots of flexibility with their training. Because of the online environment that I work through, communication is critical and I place a large emphasis on this.
I myself am based out of Adelaide. I have a local Adelaide Run squad for those that can get to in person sessions. These are on Wednesday, Thursday and Sundays as well as a weekly strength session on a Wednesday night in the gym. This has an emphasis on performance and injury prevention for runners.
4. In your experience what makes a great runner? What are the common traits that you have observed in your athletes?
The first thing is that they follow the process. They implement quality training and focus on is what’s in their control. As mentioned above this includes mindset, fitness, skills, recovery and having a sound game plan. These principles stacked together and implemented into a quality personalised training plan makes great runners.
The second is that they are open to feedback and continually looking to improve. For this to happen they understand that they will need feedback from an outside eye on what they do. As a result, they are willing to invest in themselves as a runner and work with a coach. They are putting a commitment in place and holding themselves accountable to their lofty goals and what they believe in. Given time and distance these runners always make the most gains.
The third and final thing is long term consistency. They think long term and understand that long term gradual progression will lead to success. They know that if they are consistent in training, consistent in following the process and consistent in implementing the feedback the gains will come.
5. What have your greatest successes been as a coach?
To start The Ultra Journey community up from scratch is probably my biggest success. To be able to see runners supporting each other at races, online in workshops that I hold and finding their running more enjoyable and fulfilling is absolutely amazing. The results that follow from first time ultra-finishes, PB’s and podiums are just a bonus.
The Future
6. What do you hope is next for your coaching journey?
I have a team building at The Ultra Journey and am looking forward to seeing this continue. I always get a buzz out of three things:
- Seeing any runner finish their first ultra.
- Runners hitting huge PB’s, I am always aiming for 30 minutes PB over the 50k ultra and a 1 hour PB over the 100k ultra when someone first works with me.
- Having runners hit the podium.
To have all the above continue to happen will be amazing.
The other coaching goal I have is to coach someone who makes the World Mountain and Trail Running Team, when that happens that will be really special.
7. Are you taking on new athletes, where do you train, and how should they contact you?
At the moment I have space for a few runners in a 1:1 capacity and space available on The Ultra Club. Runners are best to phone or MSG me at the number provided at the bottom of my website or fill out the contact form.
I can then answer any questions they have about in person or online coaching and guide them on what the best option for them.
Finish with a smile!
Nick