When you join Coached, you'll quickly notice that I don't give out my phone number.
No WhatsApp. No iMessage. No "quick text me when you're done."
That's not an accident.
Early in my coaching career, I let athletes text me. I'd be out and about, get a message, and reply on the spot. No context in front of me and minimal thought behind it, because I didn't want to keep them waiting.
Nobody ever complained, but a few times I realised later that I'd have said something different if I'd had their training details open and the big picture in view.
That didn't sit well with me.
The other thing was boundaries. Texts came at all hours. It made it harder to switch off and show up properly for my family.
Now we use email and in-app messaging.
Both come into a dedicated athlete support platform, not a generic email inbox. We can see previous messages, their races and training plans. We have context.
You train with intention. I coach the same way.
When we get a message about a session, or a niggle, or a race concern, we want to read it properly. Sit with it. Think about what's actually being asked, not just what's written. Then we respond with something useful.
That takes a few minutes. Sometimes longer, and that's cool with us.
There's also something else.
The way a coach communicates sets a tone. If we're bouncing back instant replies at 9 pm, we're training you to expect that.
And we're training ourselves to react instead of think. That's not good coaching.
We're not slow. Our average first response time over the past twelve months is 1 hour 35 minutes. We're just deliberate.
You'll hear from us, and the reply will be worth reading.
