Collaboration

Teamwork is a core component and essential to every sport. Even sports like golf, where the game is very individuated have some form of team contentment to them. This could be through coaches working with the athlete, trainers, or simply other athletes on the team. In the sport of running, collaborating with other runners is vital for success. We can find collaboration in running through coaching, training partners, and running forums.

Coaching

Collaborative coaching is a professional relationship in which the coach works with the athlete to create a future vision for the athletes. There is give and take between the athlete and coach, working together to come up with a plan. Coaching has typically been strictly face to face or over the phone communication. Today that has changed and coaching can be done online. There are thousands of coaching services for runners online, that range from all events and skill levels. In my experience with this, I work with a coach closer to my home in Pittsburgh. Although we know each other, communication over digital media can be difficult at times for instant feedback. Overall I do really enjoy this form of coaching because it allows you to work with so many different coaches rather than coaches in your area.

Teammates

Another form of collaboration comes through teamwork, training partners, or running teams. Working together and knowing your teammate's end vision can help to encourage both athlete and their teammate to work harder. Encouraging teammates has become even easier through the use of social media. There are household name apps like Facebook and Twitter that can be used for collaboration, but I prefer running specific applications like Strava. I have previously mentioned the app Strava in other blogs but thinks its most appropriate for collaboration. I think the best benefit of using Strava is to encourage others to reach their goals. In my experience, I have found that Strava is great for holding my teammates accountable. Over school breaks, it can be easy to get distracted and fall off of the training regiment. With the ability to post your activity directly to Strava, it is an honest way to stay connected and updated on training.

Running Forums

The last but latest form of collaboration in running is through the use of running forums. Forums are great because athletes can post questions and work with other runners to solve any issues. Forums that I have read range from training tips, to picking the right college to run for or even coaching advise all coming from the running community. The largest running forum is called Letsrun.com, a site dedicated to only running related forums. I have used this site in the past to get some different training opinions when I was struggling with making improvements. The new phenomenon of forums makes receiving feedback easy and instant.

Collaboration is unique in running because of the avenues it can go unlike other sports. In my personal experiences, i have encountered this in several forms from teamwork to coaching. In today's digital world, it is interesting to see how these two cross over in the forms of online coaching and running forums. I am excited to see where the future of digital media will take collaboration next!