Questioning (the wisdom of) Daily Coaching

In November, I did a running challenge to raise money for Mind, a UK-based mental health charity.

The challenge was to run 60 miles over the month, and as an absolute non-runner (at the time) this was a HUGE deal for me.

I decided I'd run 2 miles every day through the month, because that was what I believe in - daily steps, frequent feedback.

I endlessly say #ItsAllAboutTheReps. 

Bit of context - a very large part of my work is Kata coaching, either coaching or second coaching people, or training people to be Kata coaches. In this type of coaching, we talk about the ENORMOUS benefit of daily coaching.

15 to 30 minutes per day, where the coach is teaching the learner to think and behave in a more effective way. 

I preach ALL THE TIME that the daily part is critical. I get right up there on my soapbox and endlessly reiterate that daily cycles are required for the best outcome.

So it made sense to me that the same approach would apply here, with the running thing.

Well, duh. 

Many of you will see this coming, but obviously I quickly discover that running every day is BAD. Bad for my knees, my legs and specifically my calves. 

My PT would look at me like I was crazy, and ask me to just run 4 miles every other day instead.

But I had set my mind on 2 miles per day. 

And I'm all about the daily reps. 

And this is what I tell people EVERY SINGLE DAY and it is IMPORTANT, DARN IT.

Now I was careful. I stopped if I was in pain. If walking was OK, I'd continue at a slow pace. I wore a knee support, and I learned a LOT about stretching before and after my runs. 

But of those 30 days of November I ran 26 days.

Reflecting back (and for the Kata Geeks amongst us, yes I did a full Summary Reflection) I realised I was kinda stupid.

And, full transparency, my world was kinda rocked 🤯.

My whole mantra about daily steps was potentially in doubt.

This did NOT feel good.

Now I have had a chance to process it all, I've come to believe it's all about the RECOVERY TIME. 

When I'm running, the thing I am training is my legs. Obviously the rest of my body is involved too, but the main IMPACT is on the joints and muscles in my legs. 

And I learned that the recovery time for MY legs needs to be 48 hours. I don’t know exactly why (yet) (there’s my next deep-dive into Google) but every other day seems optimal right now, for the way that I run.

But when we practice Kata, the thing we are training is our BRAIN - in terms of the way we think and feel. 

I (strongly) believe that the recovery time for our brains, with this type of training, is a sweet spot between 18 and 24 hours which specifically needs to contain some sleep. 

I believe the sleep is super important - to allow our brains to process and reset.

So.

The relief is palpable.

I can rest easy assured that daily Kata coaching is still the absolute best way to go.

At a stretch, the absolute  minimum I'll agree to coach people is 4 times per week. That way you are taking steps 4 days a week, more days than you are not.

But 5 days a week is still better.

Phew.