What Is a Running Life Coach? Ep. 191

In this episode I share my journey and philosophy as a running life coach, emphasizing how running is a tool for building confidence, empowerment, and emotional resilience in women. I discuss the importance of understanding the 'why' behind movement and how it translates into life transformation.

Takeaways

• Running is a tool for confidence and emotional healing.
• Understanding your 'why' sustains motivation beyond external factors.
• Movement creates momentum and helps process emotions.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Running Life Coaching
02:58 The Impact of Running on Confidence
05:55 Understanding the Why Behind Goals
12:03 The Holistic Approach to Coaching
14:59 Transformation Through Movement

Connect with Lisa by clicking the links below!

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:14

Welcome to Ella Go. My name is Lisa, and this is not just a podcast about running. This is a podcast to empower women through fitness and health and everything in between. Because let's be honest, ladies, this journey could suck if we don't get our shit together. Welcome back to the ELAGO podcast. My name is Lisa. I am your host. And today we're talking about something I get asked all the time. What is a running life coach? Because whenever I introduce myself as a running life coach, I usually get a confused look. People understand what a running coach is. People understand what a life coach is. But when you put the two together, people aren't sure what that means. And honestly, I understand why. Like I get it. I get it. But when people think of running, they think about races, pace, mileage, fitness. They picture lean runners crossing finish lines and training for marathons. Running has a stereotype, okay? Lean, tone body, fast, racing, long distances. But then if you ask an ultrarunner what running is, it's actually slow. It's a mixed bag of body types and very long distances broken up into days. Also ask an ultra runner if they run marathons, they will laugh and smirk and tell you they are not that kind of runner. These people are running 40 to 100 miles like it's air. They're on a whole nother level. But that's not what I coach. I coach women to become more confident and empowered through running. Running is simply the tool because I believe how we approach movement is often how we approach life. If we quit on ourselves during a workout, where else are we quitting on ourselves? If we constantly tell ourselves we're not capable of running one more minute, where else are we telling ourselves we're not capable? If we never believe we can get stronger physically, how does that impact what we believe about ourselves emotionally? That's what I do. And that's why I do what I do because running changed my life. I didn't grow up as an athlete. I mean, I tell the story all the time. You know, I was invited to do a um a running club in high school, and I quit day one. I actually found running during one of the hardest periods of my life, my divorce. At a time when I felt lost, overwhelmed, and unsure of myself, running became more than exercise. It became my release. It became my therapy between therapy sessions. Like I'd always go to the therapy session, and right after the therapy session, I'd go for a run. It became the place where I could think, cry, and man, did I cry. I mean, there I mean, I didn't care who was seeing me. I didn't give a shit. I was going through some hard shit. I'd cry while I was running, I'd process, I'd heal, and eventually rebuild. And most importantly, it helped me rebuild my confidence. So, how does running create confidence? For me, there are many reasons, but I'll give you my top three. Okay, the first one is simple. Running is fucking hard, especially when you've never done it before. I still remember my first attempt at running as an adult after that whole jogging club fiasco. Five minutes. Five miserable minutes. I thought I was dying. I felt like someone was punching me in the stomach. But here's the thing: it was hard, and I did it anyways. And every time I did something I didn't think I could do, I started building evidence. Evidence that I was stronger than I thought, evidence that I could do hard things. And when you learn you can do hard things on a run, you start believing you can do hard things in life. The second reason is movement creates momentum. When people are struggling emotionally, they often feel stuck, stuck in their thoughts, stuck in their emotions, stuck in their circumstances. Movement interrupts that. Movement reminds your body and your brain that you're not stuck, you are moving forward one step at a time. The third reason is that movement helps us process. When we're stressed, overwhelmed, grieving, angry, or anxious, we often carry those emotions in our bodies. We hold tension, we suppress feelings, we stay busy. How many of us do that so that we don't have to face the reality? Running gave me a healthy way to release what I was carrying. So, what does that coaching look like? Well, I'm not going to give you everything because you'll have to be a client who experiences to have that client experience, but I will share a few things. One, there's a great emphasis on the why. Why do you want to walk 10 miles or run a 5K? See, most people work out and never get to the root of the why. So then their workouts dwindle and their goals slowly become an afterthought. The why is emotional, it pulls on your heart. And maybe you might even shed a tear when you think about your why. Why is the why so important? Because external motivation is bullshit and it never lasts for long. But internal motivation, what comes from you, that's priceless. It's the internal motivation that's going to push and whisper in your ear. I thought you wanted to do this so that you can live long to see your grandkids. And it might actually give you some guilt. Now, don't go at it with me about the guilt. I think some guilt is okay, especially if it's going to get you to move for your health. So I'm going to tell you the emphasis is always why. And I always get, I want to become healthy. Why do you want to become healthy? I want to feel stronger. Why do you want to feel stronger? Sometimes a client will stop and say, I haven't thought about that. Come back to me when you've thought about it because it has to get to the root. You have to get to that root because it is that root of your why that's going to get your ass up when you don't want to get up. And it's going to remind you of that goal. That shit is more powerful than any coach, than any motivational speech, and it's going to last longer. So we have an emphasis on the why before we talk about running. Motivation is found in meaning. It's not found in a training plan. And when we connect movement to something deeper, your health, your confidence, your future, your kids, your family, that's when lasting change happens. I mean, we also do some journaling, visualization, reflection, mindset work, and other tools to help women strengthen both their body and their minds. Because my goal isn't just to help someone finish a race. My goal is to help them become the kind of woman who believes she can, the woman who trusts herself, the woman who keeps showing up, the woman who stops waiting to feel ready and starts moving anyway. And that's why I call myself a running life coach. Because this work has never been about running. It's never about running. It's about confidence. It's about empowerment. It's about helping women realize they are capable of so much more than they think. Running is simply the vehicle that gets us there. So if you're asking about what about running, when do you get to that? Well, it's baby steps. And yes, we do the learning piece on running shoes, stretches, meals, watches, you know, all the things that most typical running coaches go over. And it depends on your level. It may start as a run walk where you master the run walk to the point you can do that for days. And then we increase gradually. Or it can start at a conversational pace. You know, the pace that everyone thinks is so damn slow and keeps asking me, when are we going to go fast? And this is where a running life coach may ask, how fast do you heal? How fast do you make changes in life? Because those things do not happen fast, they are gradual. And can I say that the conversational pace is literally the most misunderstood pace by runners? But we'll talk about that in another episode. Now, I've only given you surface level information. There's so much more involved. There is the community, there is the emotional support, and above all, there is transformation. So if you've ever felt stuck, if you ever doubted yourself, if you ever wondered whether you're capable of more, I want you to know something. You don't have to become a runner to transform your life. But sometimes the simple act of putting one foot in front of the other can remind you just how strong you've been all along. And that to me is what running life coaching is all about. So I hope you got a sense of what that was. There's gonna be more of this. We're gonna talk about the visualization, what that looks like. I mean, I might give you more of the surface level. So until next time, keep moving forward. Not because you're trying to become someone else, but because every step is helping you become more of who you really are. And until next time, bye.