Hannah Shakeshaft – Philadelphia Running Coach

Description

Philly-based Hannah Shakeshaft coaches athletes looking to grow their love of running, specifically from the 5k through the marathon. She’s here to be your support, your cheerleader, your motivator, and go-to coach for questions! Reach out below to get started!

Contact Hannah

LEVELS: Beginner, Intermediate
TYPES: Road, Trail
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: Philadelphia, PA
IN-PERSON SESSIONS: No, online coaching only

SPECIALTIES

• Working with runners who are doing something new; new to running, new distances, new goals, new phase of life.
• Helping people love running and keep loving it. How do we approach running mentally, physically, emotionally? How do we deal with the pressures, the identities, the comparisons? And how do we work running into our life in a way that feels sustainable and realistic?
• Collaborating on your goals with you. Let’s stay connected, let’s be transparent, and let’s approach your running as a team. I’m here to support YOUR goals and what YOU want from yourself, not to assign you something arbitrary and hope that you like it 🙂
• Considering the whole athlete. How does your nutrition, your psychology, your stress, your running mechanics, your day-to-day life play into your wellbeing as an athlete? What do we run through and what do we rest, or what should we see a medical professional about? I specialize in coordination. I may be somewhat well-read in many of these, but I am not an expert. I work hard to build a network of experts and professionals, people who can help where I can’t.

PHILOSOPHY

My goal is to be your partner in your running. The coaching relationship to me isn’t just a one way funnel of information from me to you — it is collaborative, creative, and requires a huge amount of trust, transparency, and communication from us both. My coaching approach always starts here!

Running should serve you. I’m a huge proponent of finding where running fits in your life so that it supports you and makes you feel good! I do my best to alleviate some of those natural stresses and pressures that seem to surround it, and I work with my athletes on the mental side of things to encourage a healthy relationship with the sport. That means I’m working hard to get to know you as a person and an athlete to learn what makes you tick, and how I can balance that healthy relationship with also pushing you and holding you accountable!

I am all for adjusting training to meet the individual’s needs and think balancing consistency with flexibility is one of the biggest pieces to a successful training cycle. I have a collaborative approach to training, so while I might come into it with an idea of how I’d like to build your plan, the most effective plan is going to be the one where I’m listening to your needs and what works for you while also bringing my specific knowledge and expertise.

I also don’t want to overlook the simple fact that as your coach, I’m in your corner. I’m ready to show up as your cheerleader, your sounding board, somebody to text about the big and the little things that come up (can’t decide on what shoes to wear? want help picking a race? wondering what we’re even doing running around on this big floating planet? let’s talk it out). I’m going to cheer you on and if I’m doing my job well, you’ll feel like you have a teammate in this whole thing.

COACHING EXPERIENCE

I have been a running coach with Team RunRun since 2022, certified through UESCA since 2023. I have experience coaching athletes of all abilities, but the majority of my experience is in working with beginner runners or first-time marathoners. I also have experience in co-leading in-person training groups for the 5k/10k distance, and leading community runs.

ABOUT ME

I am an architectural designer by day, but my passion is working with runners in every capacity. I fell in love with running in 2014 while training for my first half marathon. I was hooked on researching and modifying training plans, mapping out routes, building strength programs for myself, and googling how to analyze all of this fun new data I was getting. I loved the mixture of figuring things out using both data and going off of feel, and now I love helping runners learn how to find that balance for themselves.

I have been lucky enough to have been a part of really special running communities and have felt the joy, support, and knowledge gained from finding those circles. Being a part of that community can look different for every runner — we’re not all looking for the same things! But I do make it a point to try to connect my athletes with resources and support. Whether that’s connection through a community among the athletes I work with, setting up webinars with sports nutritionists and other experts who can share their specialties with us, or meeting up for the occasional group run with local athletes, I try very hard to listen, ask for feedback, and provide my athletes with the resources and information that excites them.

BIG INFLUENCES

My plans are influenced by Jack Daniels, Hal Higdon, and the UESCA training modules. However, all of my training approaches are rooted in the fact that one methodology cannot be copied and pasted for every runner. Between studying the science of the sport, proven models of training, and learning who YOU are as an athlete and what works for you, we’ll settle on a plan that works best for you and that is ever-adaptable when things change.

RACING HISTORY

I had a tough fall/winter one year filled with injury and lack of motivation. I was signed up for one of my favorite races, the Frozen Finger 5 miler, and thought a nice, lowkey race near a pretty lake with friends would be just what I needed. I had raced before but until that point, racing for me was running as fast as I could comfortably. I started that race too fast but I felt amazing. And then I felt uncomfortable. And I remember thinking…. “Let’s see how long I can hold this.” I stayed uncomfortable the whole race and I pushed myself for the first time ever. No, I wasn’t racing “wrong” before, but I had never raced like THAT before. I got such a rush out of pushing myself as hard as I could and now there’s a place for racing both ways in my life! But finding that gear that I’d never even tried to tap into before was such a turning point for my relationship with running. This sport is so cool, there are just so many different ways to do it.

CERTIFICATIONS

• UESCA Certified Running Coach

PRs

• 5k: 24:26 (5/8/21) HHS Music Boosters 5k
• 10k: 58:01 (9/25/21) Susquehanna River Running Festival 10k
• Half Marathon: 1:58:59 (9/24/22) Susquehanna River Running Festival
• Marathon: 4:44:38 (10/20/18) Baltimore Running Festival

CONTACT HANNAH

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.

PUBLICATIONS

• What Running Apps do I Need?
• Susquehanna River Running Festival Race Report

SOCIAL