Working with a Running Coach: Weather Adjustments and Communication

Your coach sends the week's training plan on Sunday evening. Tuesday calls for a tempo run at 7:30 pace. But Tuesday arrives with 88°F temperatures and a heat advisory. Do you run the tempo as written? Slow down? Move it to another day? Skip it entirely? This scenario plays out regularly for coached athletes, and navigating it effectively requires understanding how coaches think about weather, when and how to communicate about conditions, and what authority athletes have to make real-time adjustments. The coach-athlete relationship around weather is a collaboration: coaches provide the training framework and guidance, athletes provide the on-the-ground reality and feedback. Neither can function optimally without the other. Understanding this dynamic—whether you work with a coach or coach yourself—transforms weather from a training plan obstacle into another variable that skilled athletes and coaches manage together.

This guide covers the coach-athlete collaboration around weather: how coaches approach weather adjustments, when to communicate with your coach, what to tell them, making adjustments when you can't reach them, and applying coaching principles to self-directed training.

How Coaches Think About Weather

The Training Stimulus Perspective

What coaches are actually trying to achieve:

Training effect is the goal:

Coaches prescribe workouts to create specific adaptations
The pace written is a means to an end
The real goal is the physiological stress
Conditions affect what pace produces that stress
Coaches understand this inherently

Effort over pace:

A tempo run is meant to stress lactate threshold systems
That happens at a certain effort level
In heat, that effort produces slower pace
The slower pace achieves the same goal
Coaches know pace is condition-dependent

Long-term development focus:

One workout isn't critical
Consistency over weeks and months matters
Missing a workout is fine
Destroying yourself trying to hit pace in heat isn't
Coaches think in training blocks, not single days

Risk management:

Coaches want athletes healthy and training
Injury from overexertion in heat derails training
Heat illness can be serious
Conservative adjustments protect long-term
Smart today enables training tomorrow

Common Coach Weather Adjustments

How experienced coaches modify plans:

Pace adjustments:

Slowing target pace in heat
Typical rule: 1-2% per 10°F above 60
Or effort-based targets instead of pace
"Run this at moderate effort" vs. "run 7:30"
Flexibility built into instructions

Timing adjustments:

Move hard workouts to cooler times
Early morning or evening
Swap days if one is significantly better
Long run on better weather day
Strategic scheduling around forecast

Volume adjustments:

Reduce interval reps in heat
Shorten long run in extreme conditions
Cut back total weekly mileage during heat waves
Maintain training stimulus with reduced load
Less can be more in challenging conditions

Workout type substitutions:

Indoor alternatives for extreme conditions
Cross-training when running is inadvisable
Different workout achieving similar purpose
Flexibility in implementation
The goal matters, not the specific method

Complete rest:

Sometimes the adjustment is not running
Dangerous heat, air quality, storms
Recovery day instead of risking health
One rest day doesn't harm training
Safety takes precedence

When to Contact Your Coach

Situations Requiring Communication

When to reach out:

Before workouts in extreme conditions:

Heat advisory or warning days
Dangerous cold or wind chill
Severe weather expected
Air quality alerts
Any condition that creates safety concerns

When you're unsure about adjustment:

You think pace should be modified but aren't sure how much
Conditions are borderline
Key workout at stake
Want guidance before making decision
Uncertainty warrants communication

Pattern of challenging conditions:

Extended heat wave affecting multiple workouts
Seasonal conditions consistently challenging
Training block may need restructuring
Bigger picture discussion needed
Strategic planning rather than one-off

After significant modifications:

You made a major adjustment
Workout was very different from plan
Conditions forced substantial changes
Coach needs to know for planning
Feedback loop completion

What to Tell Your Coach

Communicating effectively:

Conditions you faced:

Temperature, humidity, wind
Dew point if you know it
Feels-like temperature
Any other relevant factors
Objective information first

What you did:

The actual workout executed
How you modified (pace, duration, etc.)
Reasoning for modifications
Or what you couldn't modify
Clear description of what happened

How you felt:

Perceived effort during workout
How conditions affected you
Any concerning symptoms
Recovery afterward
Subjective experience data

Questions for future:

Should I have done something different?
How should I handle similar situations?
What's the plan if conditions persist?
Seeking guidance for next time
Learning from the experience

Communication Timing

When to reach out:

Pre-workout when possible:

Morning of a tough weather day
If you see extreme conditions coming
Before making major modifications
When you want input before deciding
Proactive communication

During if necessary:

Conditions worse than expected
You're struggling and unsure whether to continue
Only if coach is accessible
Quick text or message
Don't derail workout to communicate

After workout:

Report back on what happened
Provide the feedback loop
Especially if modifications were significant
Log notes for coach review
Documentation for ongoing planning

Respecting coach availability:

Coaches aren't always immediately accessible
May not see messages before your run
Have guidelines for independent decisions
Don't expect instant responses
Understand the relationship parameters

Making Independent Adjustments

When You Can't Reach Your Coach

Guidelines for autonomous decisions:

The guiding principle:

What would my coach tell me to do?
Conservative is usually correct
Effort over pace in challenging conditions
Safety over training stimulus
When in doubt, back off

Established guidelines:

Discuss weather protocols in advance
Know your coach's general approach
Have pre-approved modification rules
"If heat index above X, do Y"
Preparation enables autonomy

Effort-based running:

Shift to effort when conditions are bad
Run the same effort, accept different pace
Tempo "feel" rather than tempo pace
This is almost always appropriate
Default to effort when uncertain

The safer choice:

If torn between two options
Choose the more conservative one
Slightly undertrained beats injured/ill
One easy workout doesn't matter
Long-term perspective

Post-Hoc Justification

Explaining your decisions:

Document your reasoning:

Note conditions and your decision
Explain why you chose as you did
Make it easy for coach to understand
Support informed feedback
Enables productive discussion

Learning from feedback:

Coach may agree with your call
Or may have different perspective
Either way, you learn for next time
Calibrating your judgment
Improving independent decision-making

Building trust:

Good decisions build coach confidence in you
Demonstrates maturity and awareness
Enables more autonomy over time
Athlete-coach partnership deepens
Collaborative relationship grows

Self-Coaching Weather Decisions

When You Don't Have a Coach

Applying coaching principles to yourself:

Think like a coach:

What's the purpose of this workout?
Will conditions prevent achieving that purpose?
What modification maintains the intent?
What's the long-term smart play?
Coach mindset, athlete execution

Research-based adjustments:

Learn the weather-performance relationships
Know temperature and humidity effects
Understand wind impact
Build your own adjustment guidelines
Evidence-based self-coaching

Conservative default:

When uncertain, back off
Easy run in questionable conditions
Move hard workouts to better days
Prioritize consistency over any single workout
Self-preservation is smart coaching

Learning from experience:

Note what works and what doesn't
Build your personal weather database
Calibrate adjustments over time
You are the experiment
Improve your self-coaching continuously

Building Your Own Weather Guidelines

Creating your framework:

Temperature guidelines:

Define your comfortable range
Set thresholds for modifications
Know your personal heat tolerance
Document and refine over time
Personal rules for personal physiology

Humidity/dew point thresholds:

Learn what dew point levels affect you
Set guidelines for pace adjustments
Know when to move workouts
Individual sensitivity varies
Customize to your response

Workout-specific rules:

Easy runs: Most flexible on conditions
Long runs: Protect these; need good conditions
Speed work: Quality requires quality conditions
Race simulation: Should match expected race conditions
Different workouts, different weather rules

Indoor alternatives:

Define when to go inside
Treadmill for dangerous heat
Indoor track for icy conditions
Cross-training options
Clear triggers for indoor decisions

The Coach-Athlete Partnership

Building the Relationship

Weather as collaboration opportunity:

Open communication:

Discuss weather early in relationship
Establish protocols and expectations
Create communication channels
Set guidelines for autonomy
Foundation for weather decisions

Feedback loops:

Report conditions and outcomes
Coach learns your responses
Adjustments become more personalized
Improvement over time
Mutual learning

Trust development:

Athlete demonstrates good judgment
Coach grants more autonomy
Shared understanding deepens
Weather decisions become smoother
Partnership matures

The Athlete's Responsibility

Your role in the collaboration:

Awareness:

Know what conditions you'll face
Check weather before workouts
Understand how conditions affect you
Don't run blindly into bad weather
Preparation is your job

Communication:

Tell your coach what you experienced
Don't hide modifications or struggles
Provide honest feedback
Ask questions when uncertain
Information flow enables coaching

Good judgment:

Make reasonable independent decisions
Learn from feedback
Apply growing experience
Take responsibility for your training
Active participant, not passive recipient

Honesty:

About what you did
About how you felt
About modifications you made
About concerns you have
Honesty enables good coaching

Key Takeaways

Coaches focus on training effect, not specific paces. Weather-adjusted paces can achieve the same stimulus.
Communicate before key workouts in extreme conditions. Proactive discussion enables better decisions.
Tell your coach: conditions, what you did, how you felt. Complete information supports good coaching.
When you can't reach your coach, be conservative. Effort-based running is almost always appropriate.
Understand your coach's general approach. Pre-established guidelines enable autonomous decisions.
Self-coached athletes should think like coaches. What's the purpose? What maintains the intent?
Build your personal weather guidelines. Document, test, and refine your own adjustment rules.
Weather decisions are collaborative. Coaches provide framework; athletes provide ground truth.

Coaches understand weather—and they want athletes who do too. Run Window helps you understand conditions so you can communicate effectively and make smart training decisions.