IN THE ARENA WITH MATT ELLIOTT: The Greatest Coach You Haven't Heard Of...YET!

Over the course of my running career I have been blessed to have many coaches who have helped me further my joy for running. This blog will focus on my relationships with some of the greatest men and women I have had the blessing of forming relationships with and will give insight into my journey as an athlete who has learned to love this sport over the last 17 years.

In middle school, I began my running career under the tutelage of Mayo Phillips who was my first cross-country coach as well as my middle school P.E. teacher. One of the funniest coaches I have had to date--his most famous saying in class being “Don’t let the door hit ya where the Good Lord split ya” as he politely kicked a student out of the locker room for failing to dress out. It was under Coach Phillips that I learned so much about our sport as I experienced running on a team, running in races, completing workouts and going on runs for the very first time. This experience is one that I cherish because I remember so vividly from that 1998 cross country season what it felt like to run a PR almost every race and compete at the state championships for the very first time where I ran a time ~21:09 for 5k.

That year in seventh grade I also went out for the track team who was coached by Larry Cecile. Coach Cecile was that coach every one feared. However, he brought out the best from each of his athletes despite our team having to do workouts in the bus parking lot at the high school because Green Sea Floyds Middle/High didn’t have a track until my eighth grade year. That season was filled with success for me as I remember breaking 6 minutes for the 1600, 12:00 for the 3200 and running a relay event for the very first time.

FAST FORWARD!!!!!!!!!!! I will highlight the years in between then and now in the near future, but my hope is to share a small piece of how my past coaches have deeply impacted my life and love for this sport. As I stated in my last blog, my life has undergone quite a bit of change over the last few months. Having a new coach has probably been one of the biggest changes I have made, and one that I foresee will greatly impact my running career in the future. My new coach is Dr. Ruud Van Thienen (pronounced R-oo-t). Dr. Van Thienen holds a PhD in Exercise Physiology from the University of Leuven and currently holds a position as a family doctor near his home in Diepenbeek, Belgium. He is 30 years old and has hopes of combining his two loves--sports and medicine--in his future occupation as a part-time sports physician and part-time family doctor. Dr. Van Thienen is currently the team doctor for the Belgian National Cycling team who just had a successful World Cup experience in Mexico. He is truly loved by all who know him because of his jovial personality and relentless work ethic that is second to none. I am glad to call him my coach, but I am even more blessed to call him my friend.

I met Ruud in the summer of 2013 during my first European racing experience. I was staying in Leuven, Belgium, at the time with the agency that represents me--Total Sports US. Often I would travel to the nearby University of Leuven to workout on their track with several of our athletes. However, one day I traveled over solo to prepare for an upcoming race later that week. When I arrived, I notice two people doing a workout on the track. It looked like a man was pacing a woman through a workout, but I noticed something very strange—the man wasn’t wearing any shoes and was running on the track barefoot! I completed my workout and was able to chat afterwards with each of them. Long story short, the man in this story was Ruud! He and his friend came to watch me race later that summer in Belgium, and I was able to visit his hometown for a night as well. This past summer he hosted me for three weeks and treated me like a king--making sure I was able to travel anywhere I needed to go, have access to facilities when I needed them and have the support I needed at my races. Ruud also helped me reflect upon my previous state of overtraining and was a huge help in guiding me back to ground zero. I was so amazed by his philosophies and methods of communicating what I needed to be my best that I asked him to be my full-time running coach. This has proved to be one of the greatest decisions I have ever made in my life.

Ruud is a coach who goes above and beyond in all facets of training as he has created a process that has yielded the optimal individualized training plan for me. One pivotal piece of coaching that he values is communication. We are constantly talking about how I am feeling and this open line of communication has created an excellent accountability piece in our coach/athlete relationship. The detail of his plan is unlike any I have ever seen as I currently give Ruud feedback on daily workouts with a scored intensity rating, daily sleep data, altitude sleeping information, nutritional data such as specifics of carbohydrate, fat and protein intake in # of grams, and most importantly a database of notes where I am able to share results from workouts along with details about my form, level of effort, and overall likes/dislikes! Ruud strives to collect as much data as possible so that my workout plan will be completely designed for ME to reach my maximum potential. We aren’t just going to say that this is our goal—we have the data to prove it!

Ruud has also created a long-range plan for my indoor season which is currently our main focus in training. I love this because I can always see where I am going and what we have accomplished so far. I could just go on and on about the aspects of my training plan that have and will continue to help me train at the highest level!!!!! Ruud has sacrificed so much to help me reach my goals, and I am confident that we have the framework in place to help me become a 2016 Olympian. So Ruud, “I am so blessed to have a coach who understands my drive and love for this sport and life. I hope you know your value to me! I love getting to tell the story of how we met and how hard you have worked to reach your goals. But the thing I am most excited to tell is that we are best friends and that we are impacting each other's lives in a great way through our friendship and coach/athlete relationship!” Onwards and Upwards and ALWAYS RUN HAPPY!