I am proud to say that I am now officially an RRCA Level II Certified Adult Distance Running Coach and RRCA Level II Certified Youth Coach! For the past year I have been working to complete the course work to obtain those distinctions and have learned a lot through the RRCA’s coaching education program.
“The new curriculum outlined for the RRCA Level II Coaching Certification enables Level I coaches to become officially designated as RRCA Level II Certified Coaches. In contrast to the generalist nature of the current Level I Course, Level II will provide a more sophisticated understanding of the scientific, psychological, competitive, and managerial aspects of community-based running and working with individual clients.” — RRCA Website
The Level II certification requires a two-day in person session with 8 hours per day and an exam at the conclusion. Upon passing the exam, there are a minimum of 15 online modules that must be completed and passed – each has an exam at the end – within a two year period after the in-person qualification is met.
I took the in-person training in April of 2018 at the RRCA National Convention in Washington, DC. The convention was a lot of fun and I definitely learned a lot in those days full of classroom activities. My business partner in Runner In Training, Becky, wrote up a great recap of the Convention. Read it here.
The 15+ modules I completed included:
Applied Physiology for Coaches
Anatomy for Running Coaches
Injury Prevention and Recovery
Strength Training for Runners
Yoga for Runners
Coaching Running Form
Coaching Using the Galloway Method
Coaching for Trail Running
Coaching Youth Runners (K-6)
Coaching Youth for Performance (7-12 grade)
Coaching the Sub-Elite Athlete
Coaching for Ultra Runners
Overview of Sports Nutrition Trends
Disordered Eating and Addictive Behaviors
Ethics & Risk Management
I also completed the SafeSport training that, combined with the two youth coaching modules, earned me the RRCA Level II Youth Coach certification.
It was a lot of time, effort and money to complete the training, but I know with what I learned, I can be the best running coach possible.
