Nick is 34 and lives a busy life.
Work sees him travelling overseas eight to ten times a year. Like many runners, he’s trying to fit training around a full schedule.
When Nick first started running seriously, he was working hard, but the results were not showing up.
Before coaching
Before getting Coached, Nick felt like he was putting in plenty of effort, but the training wasn’t moving the needle.
Most weeks lacked consistency. And when he did run, almost every session sat in the same middle ground.
Not easy. Not truly hard. Just hard enough to feel like work.
This is a common trap.
You train often enough to feel tired, but not in a way that actually develops fitness effectively.
Nick was also doing what many runners do. Searching for answers online.
YouTube. Articles. Advice everywhere.
Eventually, that search led him to learn about Zone 2 training and get his first lactate test. That process led him to Coached.
The shift
One of the first adjustments we made to Nick's training wasn't what he expected.
We slowed him down.
His easy runs became truly easy, which meant putting his ego aside.
But within a couple of months, the results started to show. A faster pace at the same heart rate made it easier to trust the process.
The structure also helped.
Instead of guessing how hard to push in races, we gave Nick clear guidance based on his fitness.
When race day came, he could commit to a pace knowing it was realistic. That confidence matters more than people think.
Nick’s training today is simple.
Easy days are genuinely easy. Hard days are genuinely hard.
The difference between them is clear.
His easy runs sit at a low heart rate. Often slower than he used to run, but far more effective.
The harder sessions now include proper intensity and hills.
After coaching
The numbers tell a pretty clear story.
When Nick started training with Coached in April 2024, his recent 5km personal best was 23 minutes.
During his latest marathon build, he ran sub-20 for 5 km.
His marathon improved even more.
At the end of 2024, he ran the Singapore Marathon in 4:28 and felt miserable for most of it.
A year later, after consistent training, he returned to the same race and ran 3:38, feeling strong for much of the day.
His lactate testing over the last 20 months shows the same trend. Fitness steadily moving in the right direction.
But the biggest change is not just performance.
Nick enjoys running more now.
Easy runs are quick enough to feel smooth. Training feels structured. Consistency is easier to maintain, even with a busy job and frequent travel.
The lesson
The biggest thing Nick took from the process was surprisingly simple.
You can make big improvements even when the training itself does not feel brutally hard.
That surprises a lot of runners. Many assume progress only comes from pushing harder and harder.
Nick learned something different.
Run the easy days easy. Push properly when it matters. Then show up and do it again next week.
That quiet consistency adds up.
