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Chevy Rough | Running & Strength Coach · London

@chevy.rough

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Making all paces feel welcome since 2012
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💛 Head of Community @therunningcharity
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If running was my New Year goal, but exhaustion held me back,

here’s how I’d start… taken in London, United Kingdom by @chevy.rough

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8 months ago

Struggle with performance anxiety?

The skill of managing thoughts, feelings, and emotions,

is one you can practise in training.

Take this session.

We’re learning what stress feels like as it rises in the body.

We’re learning how to sit with that feeling without layering on panic, fear, or uncertainty.

We stay focused on the obstacle.

We’re learning how to manage the rhythm of our breathing as we transition from obstacle to obstacle.

Rhythm is the first priority. Without it, the mind wanders, often towards panic.

Anxiety, for the most part, is a signal.

We just need to learn how to safely interpret that signal,

so it doesn’t limit our potential when it’s most needed.

Practice this skill and you feel more confident in your ability to deliver game-day.

Found this useful?

Share with your people. taken in London, United Kingdom by @chevy.rough

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8 months ago

Thanks for swinging by. taken in London, United Kingdom by @chevy.rough

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a year ago

It’s not about doing as little as possible in training because you’re lazy.

It’s about doing the least amount of training that leaves energy for your work and keeps you progressing towards your running goals.

For people who set the bar high in life, this can feel counterintuitive.

I’ve had clients in the first 30 days of working with me asking for me to push them harder, give them more.

But then I remind them of the niggle or loss of performance and motivation that led them to me.

Our first job is to win the nervous system over, because it’s on alert.

And our second job is to build some simple habits in training.

Get those right, and we can start to drop the hammer a little, but not a lot.

Better to stay a little undertrained than overtrained.

“Issue 8: The first-month of training I programme for a 50+ hour work week runner”, is now live.

Comment “answer” and I’ll send it over. taken in Canary Wharf by @chevy.rough

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a month ago

Do you know what sucks when you’re a runner?
Lacking motivation.

Especially when you were doing so well and feeling great about, well, you.

It’s cruel, because here’s this thing you know helps you show up to your complicated life.

But no matter how hard you try to do all the things the internet tells you to do to find it, zip.

Personal fav is leaving gym kit by bed.

Trust me when I say, ain’t no kit getting me out of bed if I want 10 more.

Spoke to a few runners this week with this exact problem.

A year ago they were running marathons, and now their local Park Run feels like Everest.

I dug a little deeper and all had a common thread.
Turbulence.

Loved ones passing.

New jobs.

New home.

Projects to deliver, people to lead and life to be lived on life’s terms.

And here’s the thing I know about bad turbulence. It’s exhausting holding on for the ride.

And here’s the thing I know about our brains.

They’re concerned with our survival and survival comes down to an energy game.

And if energy has been spent riding the rollercoaster of life, it’s unlikely there’s much left to be running marathons.

This isn’t the part where I say be kind to yourself because if you’re like me that phrase is one part pointless and two parts triggering.

But this is the part where I give you the same advice I gave those runners.

Take care of your energy and your energy will take care of your motivation.

Over and out. taken in Crystal Palace, London by @chevy.rough

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3 months ago

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3 months ago

Last week we heard the collective hearts of runners break as the London Marathon ballot results landed. But listen closer and you’ll hear something else.

A collective sigh of relief.

I’ve been in this game for 15 years, and if I’ve learned one thing, it’s this: running a marathon is hard.

Obvious, right?

But so many hopeful applicants look straight past that point.

Why?

Because most applications are fuelled by a deeper emotion. A sense that something in life needs fixing.

Some will tell you they’re running to raise money for charity.

Or to challenge themselves.

All true.

But there’s more going on beneath the surface. That’s the beauty of this journey.

And the curse.

Tomorrow I dig deeper in the Running Capacity newsletter.

Issue 7: Deep down, we both know not getting a London Marathon place is a good thing.

Join the 222 runners working out how to make running work when life has other plans.

Comment “News” and I’ll DM you the link to subscribe. by @chevy.rough

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3 months ago

Question… if you’re willing to listen to your Whoop, why not your loved one?

“Maybe take it a little bit easier.”
“Be gentle with yourself.”
“Are you sure?”

Now and then, these are the sentences around my dinner table that can trigger me the most.

Not because my wife is wrong.
Because my wife is right.

Soph’s done her 10,000 hours across that dinner table getting a read on me.

Whether I like it or not, she’s one hell of an objective feedback loop that has my best interests at heart and who I can implicitly trust.

That’s why it annoys me so much, because it means I have to lean into the uncomfortable.

“Why can’t you just agree with me and tell me I’m doing everything right?!”

Obvs don’t say it out loud.

But as soon as I say it to myself, I know I need to step away, assess some things and likely change some things.

Over the years I’ve learned in these moments that I definitely don’t need to do more things, it’s likely less things.

It’s kinda like my runners who see performance plateau, or worse, they’re getting slower and running less.

Instinct can tell them, more is the solution.
More speed, more runs, more miles.

But actually, less is more and we need to apply Chev’s Rules of Running, number 14, “Subtraction over addition.”

It’s not a permanent state we need to be in, but for a while it will serve us well when it comes to managing the invisible training load that is life.

My point for you is this.

Garmin. Whoop. Claude. Grok. They don’t really know you and often their read on you is inaccurate.

But the people you love, they have all the data you need.

Subtraction Over Addition is the topic of tomorrow’s Running Capacity newsletter.

Subscribe via link in bio, for one topic a week on how to make running work when work has other plans.

Coach.
Work is Load // Train Accordingly by @chevy.rough

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3 months ago

People who refuse to be selfish when life gets hard are taking the wrong approach. Here’s why.

I’ve spent 9,578 hours coaching people through tough times.

One thing comes up again and again. When stress builds, people stop looking after themselves.

Runs abandoned.
Yoga skipped.
Bags of Haribo destroyed.

Which is ironic. Life asks for more energy exactly when we need to be at our best.

But there’s a common belief layered over this.

Good humans feel guilty for putting themselves first when the world around them is hard.

Never-ending to-do lists. Mouths to feed. People to care for.

So we stop caring for ourselves. Me included. Because we don’t see ourselves as the priority.

But here’s my point.

When your family, friends or colleagues need you, they need you thinking straight. Calm under pressure. Energised enough to support them.

And you do that best by putting your own oxygen mask on first.

Is this something you struggle with? Follow along. There’s content coming that will help.

Coach. by @chevy.rough

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4 months ago

I spend about 15 hours a week watching runners who have stressful jobs breathe.

As a Coach, here are the signals I’m looking for to help me gauge what level of intensity my client should be training at, during our 1:1 session.

1. When they walk in the gym, is their mouth open and are they breathing quick and shallow? This can either be very subtle or really obvious. My next step is to gauge if they’re just out of breath due to rushing to the gym OR due to a really stressful morning/day of work. Often it’s a mix of both, which is assessed by a few minutes of chat as I ask about their day/week (secondary data point)

2. 80% of my clients start on a bike focusing on rhythm of breath vs RPM, with a nasal-only protocol. Over time I will increase the RPMs, say from 70 to 80 to 90. We know they can handle 90 RPM most weeks nasal only, but this week effort levels feel harder. More questions about their week are asked

3. We move from a stationary bike to a dynamic warm-up. Can I get them in and out of a series of different positions while keeping their breathing rhythm nasal only? As the warm-up progresses into either skill work or strides, which both require more energy (possible need to open mouth for short periods), I’m watching how they on-ramp and off-ramp at the breath. Simply put: can they run fast (spend energy) and then shift effectively back down a gear to recover?

At this stage we’re about 30+ minutes in, and have all the data we need to adjust the weight we’re due to lift or the paces of the run ahead.

This is the important point. The structure of the session doesn’t need to change much, but if the intensity level was due to be a red state and breathing signals (plus others) are indicating their week has them in a red state, we re-categorise the session to either a yellow or green state. Aka less intensity. by @chevy.rough

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4 months ago

I’ve spent 15 years at the back of the pack, with the running ghosts who dare not call themselves runners.

But who can blame them.

Brands still don’t celebrate them.

Magazines put them on the cover when it suits them.

Crews haven’t got a clue how to pace them.

And the first question we all still ask is “what time did you finish in?”

So they tread quietly in hope you don’t see them.

But what you’ll miss.

Is the truest definition of a runner I know.

The one who ran out of reasons to keep going and kept going anyway.

Share with your people. Someone at the back needs to hear us. taken in TCS London Marathon by @chevy.rough

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5 months ago

I was at the pub with a mate last week. He’s just got back to running after a stretch off.

‘Sounds like work has been intense, and there’s been very little time for running. Must feel great to be out hitting the pavement again.’

‘I remember you saying how much it helped to clear your mind.’

‘I get that. Just ask my wife, she’ll tell you I’m a lot more fun to be around when running’s going well. Less present when it isn’t.’

‘Guess that’s why we really do it.

To be able to show up when it matters.’

‘Races are great and all, but the older I get I defo realise the importance of just being able to get out for a run during a tough week.’

‘Anyway, enough waffling. Any races planned now you’re back out there?’

‘Yeah, booked a marathon for November.’

‘Sure that’s a wise move?’

‘Yeah yeah, will be fine. Work’s dying down, got some new trainers to help with my knee and using Claude to help keep me on track.’

I should have shown him this. So I made it.

Coach.

Work is Load // Train Accordingly by @chevy.rough

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4 months ago