Andy Found

Owner

My name is Andy Found and I am a qualified running coach.
I started running seriously quite late in life when I accepted a bet to run the 2019 London Marathon at the age of 53.
I had no real previous experience of running and had only done any during my time in the Army. My training in 2019 was basic and i trained alone following the easiest plan that I could find online which had three short midweek runs plus a long run at the weekend. I completed the marathon in 5hrs 15 mins and had no intention of carrying on running after that.
Three weeks after the marathon I ran again as my bruised toe nails and blisters had healed and i wanted to show off my finishers T-Shirt. It was then that I realised that I actually enjoyed running and it was good for both my physical and mental health and so I carried on
In the summer of 2019 I decided to give a running club a go which was something that I had never really considered before and I joined my local club Ashford Striders and never really looked back.

Since 2019 I have completed five more marathons, three more at London and two at Brighton and am currently training for London 2026 which I probably will have completed by the time you are reading this. Im not fast and currently have a marathon PB of 4hrs 23 mins which I achieved in Brighton in 2022 and if I'm honest I'm not likely to better that as age is not on my side. I will, however, continue to run that distance for as long as I am physically able to.

As for my coaching career I suppose it started when I became a Leader in Run Fitness for Ashford Striders back in 2020. Although the LiRF was not a coaching qualification it did enable me to lead club runs and other sessions and gave me a basic knowledge of first aid and I really enjoyed being able to help others by enabling them to run and I was giving something back to the club. Fast forward to 2024 and I really became interested in the coaching side of running and the thought of helping others to achieve their running goals really appealed to me and so I took the England Athletics  Coach in Running Fitness Course which I really enjoyed and thankfully passed. At first I just concentrated on coaching sessions for Ashford Striders to get some experience and then I moved onto the rather daunting task of creating training plans for athletes within the club. I wasn't sure how it would go but to my amazement my plans worked and I gained a lot of confidence in my ability. It's now April 2026 and with two years of coaching experience behind me I've decided to overcome the 'imposter syndrome' and put myself out there to the general running community to help people achieve their goals. I am now Head Coach at Ashford Striders and along with the CiRF qualification I also hold the UESCA Running Coach Certification and the Vdot Coaching Certification. I am also working towards my Sports Nutritionist Qualification but that may take a little while yet. As for Strength and Conditioning, I do not get involved in S&C plans but I am lucky enough to have a goof friend who is a qualified S&C coach and she compiles all of the S&C workouts that are included in every training plan.

I hope that gives you enough information about me and my background and I really hope that you get in touch and put your trust in me.

Andy F