Your Guide to Becoming a Mentor to New Runners

IF YOU KNOW someone new to running or starting to train for their first race, becoming their go-to person to guide them into the sport can be fulfilling. You get to see them reach milestones in their training and improve over time—and ultimately help them achieve their goal of crossing a finish line.

- PJ THOMPSON and DANIELLE ZICKL

As a mentor, you can help newbies avoid pitfalls in their training that they aren’t familiar with yet. For instance, a newer runner may be overtraining and doing repeated hard workouts, thinking this will help them excel; you already know they need to keep their training in check or else risk injury or burnout.

New runners also tend to be overwhelmed by all the different workouts and group runs out there, and they’re raring to go when it comes to racing. You can guide them to look longer-term rather than doing too much too soon like signing up for multiple races in a short period of time or ramping up their mileage too quickly.

Here are three tips to help the newbies in your life get the most out of the sport you’ve loved for so long.

Be welcoming and keep things simple