Coaching Advice
A working mum, a first marathon in London, and a coaching approach built on real life. Sophie shares her story and what really matters when looking for a female running coach in the UK.
My Story
Unlike some of the other coaches at JM Coaching, I didn't come to coaching from the elite end of the sport. I came into it by living alongside someone who does, and the highs and lows that brings along the way. I'm also a working mum with a three-year-old, married to a self-confessed and understandably selfish professional athlete, trying to manage my own training around work and family life.
In 2025 I ran my first marathon at London and discovered how much I loved the process of getting to the start line after years of struggles following knee surgery in 2018. Having run my first marathon, I wanted to share the journey with other runners, helping them prepare for their own first marathons and achieve their goals within the sport alongside busy lives.
In that time, and in my role at Running Bear, the thing I hear most often, especially from women, is a version of the same sentence: "I'm not sure a coach is for someone like me." I want to talk honestly about what a female running coach can bring, what to look for if you're searching for one in the UK, and why "someone like me" is exactly who coaching is for.
"The runners I love working with most are the ones chasing a first 10k or a first marathon, fitting training around full lives, and surprising themselves with what they're capable of."
The Real Value
Good coaching isn't only about setting sessions and paces. It's about building a training plan that fits the life you actually have. For a lot of women, that life is full on, with work, family, other responsibilities and a body that changes through different seasons of life. A plan that ignores all of that isn't going to work, no matter how well designed it is on paper.
When I write a plan for someone, I'm thinking about the whole picture and how each athlete is different in their approach to training. Some may need early starts before the school run. For some it might be squeezing a quick run in on lunch. The weeks when a sick child means training goes out of the window, and that's completely fine. Or when a partner is away. The days when energy is low for reasons that have nothing to do with fitness. I understand these things because I live them myself. I'm constantly adapting around Jonny's training that moves around so much, especially as he gets older and has to be more flexible.
That lived understanding is, for many, the real value of a female running coach. Not that a woman is automatically a better coach, but that a coach who has run through the same realities can build training around them rather than in spite of them. It's a bit like how I feel I learned so much about being a coach for marathon runners having gone through the build and race myself.
Lived Experience
I know what it's like to train around a toddler's sleep, or lack of it. I know the guilt that can creep in when you carve out an hour for yourself, and why pushing past that guilt matters, because that time for yourself is so important. I know what it feels like to line up for a first marathon not knowing if you've prepared well enough or what to expect during the race itself. As a coach, I get huge pride and happiness from watching runners achieve their own goals.
I also know that women's training sometimes needs to flex around things that aren't always openly talked about. I'm aware of how energy and performance can shift across the month, returning to running after having a baby, training during pregnancy, or simply juggling more plates than feels possible. For me, none of these are reasons you can't run well. They're part of the picture a good coach should be comfortable talking about and planning around, with the right specialist support in the picture where it's needed.
The Right Fit
We offer generic plans via the TrainingPeaks store and they're great if you have a set routine or schedule and don't need the feedback and support along the way. The best one-to-one coaching is the opposite, and suits a different type of runner better. Your plan should work around your week, not the other way round. Miss a session because life happened? That's how a coach can help you adjust. Feeling flat? We've all been there. The goal is consistency over time, not perfection every week, and consistency is far easier to sustain when your training respects the rest of your life. We always believe in progress over perfection. Being a mum is very much that.
This is why the human relationship matters so much, and why for me a coach beats a generic app or plan. You get accountability, and an app doesn't know your toddler was up all night. A real coach does, because you can message them, and they'll adapt. At JM Coaching that contact happens on WhatsApp, so your coach is genuinely a message away. We might not get back as quickly as AI, because we're human after all, and our response will be genuine because we've physically lived through the same experience as you.
What to Look For
If you're searching for a female running coach, here's what I'd look for:
You don't have to work with a woman to be well coached, and plenty of brilliant, understanding coaches are men. But if having a female coach makes you feel more comfortable, more understood and more likely to be 100% honest, that's a genuinely good reason to choose one. Our wider article on how to choose a running coach covers the fundamentals in more detail.
Coaching Is for You
You do not have to be fast, experienced, or "a proper runner" to sign up for coaching. Coaching adapts to the runner in front of it, and over the years as a team we've worked with runners of literally all abilities. The runners I love working with most are the ones chasing a first 10k or a first marathon, fitting training around full lives, and surprising themselves with what they're capable of. That's why being part of a coaching team is so special: we all have our own strengths and our own personal types of athlete we enjoy working with.
Common Questions
You don't need one, but many women find that a female coach who understands the realities of training around work, family and different life stages makes them feel more comfortable and more consistent. If that would help you, it's a good reason to choose one. The most important thing is feeling confident and comfortable with your coach.
Yes. Online coaching means you can work with the right coach wherever you both are in the UK, or beyond. Your plan is delivered through an app and you stay in touch with your coach directly, so location is no barrier to finding the right fit.
Completely. Coaching adapts to your fitness, your goals and your schedule. Beginners and busy parents are exactly who benefit most, because a good coach builds training around your real life rather than an idealised one.
Training can absolutely be adapted around different life stages, including returning to running postnatally. A good coach will plan sensibly, listen to how you feel, and encourage you to involve the right medical or specialist support where it's needed, so you build back safely.
Summary
The right coach isn't about credentials on paper. It's about fit, understanding, and a plan that respects the life you're actually living. If that's what you're after, whether from a female coach or any coach who genuinely gets it, it can change what you thought was possible in your running.
Thinking about working with a coach who gets real life? Book a free call and we'll help you find the right fit, or explore our coaching.
Running coach at JM Coaching. A full-time working mum to a three-year-old, Sophie ran her first marathon at London and now coaches runners chasing their own goals alongside her work at Running Bear. She coaches alongside a team that includes several experienced female coaches. Meet the team.
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