Andy Douglas P.E.T. Coach
Running Achievements
I can just about remember the first time my Dad took me to my local athletics club, Caithness AAC; I must have been around 11 years old. Distance running wasn’t something that immediately grabbed my interest, I just wanted to try everything, even if my abilities at various different events were (to be generous here) somewhat modest… I loved being part of a club, the social interaction, but also that it was a sport that I could be in control of the outcome. Onto University and I began to appreciate that distance running was likely my calling and although still very much enjoying the outside-of-training social aspects, I had a desire to improve and what I considered at the time, a pipe-dream of representing Scotland.
A few years later, and not long after I started being coached by Sophie (2009), I was selected for my first Scottish international vest in the perhaps not-so-glamorous Dunfermline Half Marathon which was part of a Home Countries Road Running International series at the time. Following that was several years of mostly cross country and road racing with a step up to the marathon; during that time winning a number of Scottish international vests and national medals in those disciplines. There were difficult periods where preparations for the marathon didn’t go to plan, and I found myself in 2014 at a bit of a crossroads in terms of where I wanted my running career to take me next. I discovered then I was more at home in the hills and mountains and from there grew a passion for mountain and trail running. Sophie and I worked together to adapt my training and over the course of the next decade I represented Great Britain at 7 x European Mountain Running Championships and 8 x World Championships, along with winning 6 x British Mountain Running Titles and 2 x World Mountain Running World Cup Series. Additionally in the past few years I have began to delve into the ultra running scene and have completed the Icelandic 55km Laugavegur Trail Race (winning in 2021, runner-up in 2022) and Scafell Pike Trail Marathon (runner-up 2021, 4th in 2022).
To see my running journey, check out my Power of Ten profile
Coaching History
I started working with Sophie in 2009 and that was my first, and has been my only since then, formal coach/athlete partnership. I feel like I’ve always been a goal-driven individual wanting to set my own path in terms of what I want to achieve, but I understand that these things are never accomplished alone and that’s why its so important to have someone like Sophie whom I can trust to help guide me when its needed. What I’ve learned from Sophie, and what I’d like to think I can too bring to the table, is an empathetic, individual-driven approach to the athlete/coach partnership. I know that the way Sophie and I work with each other as a coach/athlete team is not the same way Sophie works with her other athletes, which takes into consideration
everyone’s varying life-circumstances, personalities and abilities. For me the key to striving to be the most effective coach is to empathise with someone’s roles and responsibilities outside of running, and then figure out a way to build a training programme that works around this. There’s no standard template, or copy and paste training sessions, but a realisation that training demands need to have varying degrees of flexibility around an athletes’ day-to-day life.
I worked in a busy, occasionally stressful, finance job between 2009 and 2024, and during that time I have had my most memorable running achievements. I am all too familiar with the work/life balancing act and the difficulty often faced in planning and being dedicated to a training programme. Sometimes I’ve got it right, other times I haven’t, but I do feel I have bagged a lot of experience that I am excited about passing on and helping others achieve their running goals, whatever they may be.
I completed my UKA Leader in Running Fitness in 2023, and I am due to undertake my Athlete To Coach Programme licensed by England Athletics in October 2024. I am also a qualified yoga teacher specialising in yoga sequences suitable for runners of all abilities.
Qualifications / Awards
UKA Leader in Running Fitness (2023)
200Hrs Yin Yang Yoga Teacher Training (2024)
Nominated Performance Athlete of the Year, Scottish Athletics 2016 & 2019