Jeff Oliver – Portland, Maine Running Coach

Description

Portland running coach Jeff Oliver has coached youth, high school and individual adult athletes, in a wide variety of distances, and he uses both consistency and flexibility to help his athletes reach their full potential in both their training and racing. Reach out to Jeff below to get started!

Contact Jeff

LEVELS: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced
TYPES: Road, Track
DISTANCES: 5k/10k/Half Marathon, Marathon
TRAINING PLATFORM: Final Surge
TRAINING PLAN: Individual, customized training plan
COMMUNICATION: Unlimited email, unlimited text
RESPONSE TIME: Within 24 hours
LOCATION: Scarborough, Maine
IN-PERSON SESSIONS: No, online coaching only.

SPECIALTIES

• Track distances from 800 to 3200
• Road distances from 1 mile to marathon
• Strength work that includes video instruction
• Communication (open communication is very important to me)

• Masters Running/Training

PHILOSOPHY

YOU CAN DO MORE THAN YOU THINK! I aim for my coaching to be a game changer for each of my runners. So how do I do that?

FREQUENT COMMUNICATION – If I’m going to learn what works for you, I need to know how you are doing. How are the workouts going? What challenges are you facing? What does your work week look like? What are some stressors that might be holding you back? Did you run at the right pace? Do you have anything that hurts? The list goes on and on but the bottom line is that you and I need to communicate.

BUILD CONFIDENCE – All runners can run 5-6 days a week, some can even run 7. That might be a shock to a few but it can be done if the buildup is done correctly and the proper paces are being run. One of my big goals as a coach is to get you to believe that you CAN run the proper paces, you CAN run 5-6 days a week or more in some cases and you CAN get faster and feel good about it.

ENCOURAGE – Nothing motivates more than encouragement and you’ll have that from me. I believe in you and hopefully I can get each of my runners to believe in themselves. That’s where the magic happens.

APPLY THE FUNDAMENTALS – To run at your best there are several rules that need to be followed that’ll be true for all runners at any level. For starters, proper pacing for your easy runs, the correct amount of speed and strength work for each phase of running, the proper recovery between hard efforts and the right way to build mileage. The fundamentals apply to EVERYONE but it’s how a coach applies these fundamentals to each runner that takes an individual approach.

COACHING EXPERIENCE

I started my coaching journey back in 2007 when I began working as a high school cross country and track coach. Was named coach of the year several times and got to see many of my athletes compete at the collegiate level. Between cross country and track I have coached over 20 district championship teams. Since moving to Maine in 2018, I have coached amateur runners from the high school level to the Masters level and from the 800 to the marathon. I’ve helped runners set personal bests both on the track and the road, including a few Boston qualifiers along the way.

ABOUT ME

I started coaching in 2007 because I was immediately drawn to the science of running and would witness several runners making the same “mistakes.” Since 2009, I have coached several hundred runners and have watched numerous people reach their running goals, whatever those goals may be. In February of 2024 I joined team RunRun, with the goal of working with runners across the country to achieve their goals. In 2024 alone, I’ve helped several runners achieve big personal bests in races from a 1.5 mile military PRT to a full marathon and everything in between. Please see my customer reviews for some of those success stories. While I love coaching individuals for all types of races, my favorite is assisting people in their journey to qualify for and run the Boston Marathon. I fell in love with running the marathon distance immediately after finishing my first marathon in 2015. Since then, I have completed eleven marathons total, including two Boston Marathons. I have a personal best of 2:44:19 and also have completed countless half marathons with a personal best of 1:15:18.

BIG INFLUENCES

My biggest influences have been the great coaches I have had throughout my running career. I have learned from them how important it is to connect with each runner and really understand who they are and what makes them tick. A coach can understand everything there is to know about running but if they don’t really get to know their runners and if they are not gathering feedback and data to make training decisions, then their runners will fall short of their true potential.

PRs

• 5k – 16:12 at the 2008 Footlocker South Regional Championship
• 4 Miles – 21:35 at the 4 on the 4th in York Maine 2019
• 8k – 27:05 – FSU Cross Country Invitational 2008
• 10k – 34:20 – Beach to Beacon 10k 2019
• Half Marathon – 1:15:18 Gulf Coast Half 2018
• Half Marathon – MASTERS WINNER 1:16:06 Maine Half Marathon 2022
• Marathon – 2:44:19 Snickers Marathon 2016

CONTACT JEFF

Finding a coach who is a great fit for you is really important. We encourage you to email your coach prior to signing up so you can connect, communicate, and ensure a good athlete/coach fit.

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