Run Like a Teacher
How my classroom lessons shaped my coaching style
I had a lovely run this morning, it felt good because I really wanted and needed to go, there weren’t the usual excuses that I’ve recently and uncharacteristically found myself giving into, I just got up, got dressed and off I went. And I’m so glad I did as each step allowed me the mental space to loosen some of those damaging knotweed of thoughts that at times are hard to root out and untangle. In the peace and tranquillity of the woods I thought about all the latest news that is currently being shouted at us, I toyed with the idea scrubbing this week’s planned blog, opting for writing about being a woman of a certain age, but, sexism and ageism is nothing new and I didn’t want to add to the noise.
So, this week I wanted to share how being a teacher has helped me as a running coach, and the more I’ve been thinking about how the two professions complement each other, the more I realise that I have an innate need to share stories, insights and knowledge and, without going too deep, I think I’m often on the lookout for solutions.
Before I had children, I went to enrol in a City & Guilds teaching adults in Further Education class, I remember saying to the course leader that I didn’t have a specialised topic to teach, he assured me that even a few years in the hospitality industry finely tuning customer care skills was enough, but to me it didn’t really feel specialised enough, so I didn’t pursue the course.
However, years later and post children, an opportunity arose when I moved down south. I landed a job with a new initiative called Parent Factor 85, I co-delivered an 8-week course to parents in primary schools on how to “manage” children’s behaviour, imagine a combination of Super Nanny meets This Morning… Of course, there was no Tik-Tok then to get parenting advice (for better or worse!).
I’m sure I only got the job because of my honesty of how hard I found parenting, in my interview I told a story of claiming that I was only “the nanny” of the very disruptive children causing havoc at the supermarket checkout. Yes, of course, they were really mine, but I admonished all responsibility of them; and I can remember the panel of interviewers smiling at my tale. I was new to the area, and with my (actual) A-Z of Portsmouth I visited every primary school delivering the course.
I loved it, it was challenging and rewarding in equal measures as I came across a diverse range of parents with huge rucksacks of responsibilities and different learning styles. How do you re-frame “time out” (it was the replacement for smacking back then) to a mum of 7 children living in a high rise flat? But we found a way, as week by week our strategies and common-sense approach helped parents who were literally at the end of their tether. Seeing parents’ relationship with their children change, but first and foremost to me, seeing women’s relationship with education change, was the biggest thrill. And I couldn’t believe my luck when my employers then funded my first teaching qualification.
Under my employer’s umbrella, my first observed lesson took place in a city centre Educational Behavioural Unit. As I mentioned, I was new to the area, so when I say I had no idea what I was heading into… I am drastically understating my naivety.
I was clueless and for the first time ever, as we pulled up to the secured windows of the unit, my husband Jamie didn’t want me to get out of the car, he clearly saw what I couldn’t (or wouldn’t) see- I don’t even think “the lion’s den” covers it. But I skipped along merrily with my mum’s battered school satchel swinging in the wind, because I was on my way to be a teacher, a real-life teacher!, and nothing else mattered.
I learnt quite a few lessons that day. Those students made it very clear, very quickly, what they thought of me. Even all these years later, writing this, the memory still smarts with embarrassment; their engagement level clearly communicated by putting their sticky name labels on their forehead followed closely by their feet, and the fact that no one came back after the first break.
Still to this day, if I’m ever worried about a presentation I’m giving or standing up in front of a group of people to do a speech, I always think back to that day and remind myself that nothing will be as bad as that.
After I gained my Psychology degree and PGCE, I taught at a local Higher Education college teaching adults and A level students. Again I loved it, as long as I turned up and taught the syllabus I was free to deliver the content in any way I wanted, there was zero micro managing and whilst it wasn’t all plain sailing, I found my groove.
I think my own educational trajectory- leaving school with one qualification, going to university as a mature student and an outlier- paved the way to building some of those important foundations of a teacher, and a coach; compassion, empathy, understanding, adaptability. And over the years, I’ve found that relationships are formed outside the structure of a classroom, or a running session, in fact more often than not it’s over a shared pot of tea and a bit of cake.
Once I’d cottoned on to this, I began to keep all the makings of my favourite brew in the filing cabinet drawer of my classroom. The 3-hour graveyard lessons of Friday afternoons were made considerably more palatable for all with the sound of the kettle being put on and an excited student presenting their homemade cake for us all to share, as each week a different student would have the opportunity to bake a cake and share it with the group. When I left that job, I was given a cake stand as my leaving gift, which felt fitting.
I’ve been talking a fair bit recently about the role of psychological safety in running, but it’s equally true in a classroom. Creating a community and a safe environment enables individuals to feel comfortable, build connections of trust and support (which takes time), and enables people to be able to make mistakes and learn from them. Regardless of whether you’re a 16 year old fresh out of school, or a 50 year old with the same baggage of a failed education as those parents in my early days of teaching, turning around reluctant learners is no mean feat- but giving someone the tools to empower themselves is, well, powerful.
My ability to read a room and take detours in lessons or sessions has been a huge transferable skill into coaching, diverting a lesson from the plan, finding an alternative shorter route, or explaining a difficult concept an alternative way has been a blessing, but also a curse.
For instance, having the bright idea of promising my (not all age 18) students they could watch a funny parody on YouTube if they finished the hard question we were working on didn’t land too well. I had only hurriedly watched the first 5 mins before excitedly adding it to my teacher toolkit, the students will love this, I thought, it highlights the application of sexism perfectly. If only I’d watched beyond well, 6 minutes, as my Head of Department conducted a learning walk straight into what I can only describe as soft porn being projected on the whiteboard. I had to brash it out, professionally explaining quite how my lesson had gone from the psychology of health promotion, to a video of Australian lawyers’ parody of Robin Thicke’s Blurred Lines song!
I’ve had similar well intentioned mishaps in my coaching career. Sometimes taking runners down unexplored paths, which I often do, can lead to all sorts of misadventures- we still laugh about the time a group of us ended up lost in the woods because I said “I wonder where this path leads”. The light was fading fast and the only person we found to ask where we were was stoned! We did make it back out eventually, but there were quite a few moments of shit, shit, shit.
It's been 6 years since I taught in a classroom but I’m still “teaching” in my coaching and the feelings of watching people achieve never leaves me. There’s really nothing like seeing an ex-student landing their dream job, as happened recently when I spotted that one of them was now working as a developer for a high profile games company- I messaged him to congratulate him, remembering all our past conversations where he shared his vision and ambition to do just that with me. I loved being able to tell him that I was so proud that he’d achieved what he’d set out to.
And I equally love seeing runners, past and present, who are still running- I don’t care if they wear another club vest, giving someone the tools to empower themselves is an honour, whether it’s what spoon to try weaning your baby with, how to play with your children, how to apply for a university outside of Portsmouth or how to love running, it doesn’t matter to me.
The downside of course is that when communities are built and strong bonds are formed, often developing into a deep sense of belonging, leaving can be really hard and so sometimes triggers defensive behaviour. Leaving anything can feel like a loss or a rejection on both sides and just like leaving any relationship, looking for faults and reasons to leave can influence and justify hurting people or behaving in ways we usually wouldn’t.
We often try to find the missing pieces of what will always be an unfinished jigsaw when we try to explain any type of behaviour (full circle back to what’s current in the news), what teaching has taught me, is that’s most important to take a step back, take a breath and remind yourself that the jigsaw will never be complete.