She's just a cover-up coach, no different from Grant Fisher and his high school coach. You remember how Smith used to lose sight with Nikki, right? The lack of discipline, the refusal to listen, it drove him nuts. But Nikki's slick, Nikki rather pick a coach who doesn't hold her accountable. All Nikki wanted was a figurehead who stays the hell out of her way and doesn't really tell her what to do.
All of her gigs are not actually coaching gigs. Shes just a female coach to associate with but no real coaching going on
It's such a load of BS man. Can't believe she’ll never actually watch or actually coach the athletes, plenty fishy, right? Mike Smith ain't no idiot, did himself a solid favor cutting ties with Nikki. But let's not forget about Miss Internet Superstar, Juli. Ms. "I can coach anyone to run a 4-hour marathon through a friggin' computer screen." Charging an arm and a leg - $100 bucks for a one-hour chat? What a shambolic sh!tshow. It's both laughable and straight up bizarre making Juli right up Coleen’s alley too. Takes one to know one
This scenario is ridiculously off-kilter. We got Juli, who freaking disappeared off the map for ten hard years, with a 1999-esque amateur coaching site, and then—poof—she reappears to coach some 30 something’s, it truly makes some twisted sense. Then we got athletes, Nikki Hiltz for instance, playing hopscotch from one coach to another, for what? Good reason? Heck no. Nikki essentially can't stomach anyone having the audacity to instruct her. Most coaches would steer clear, but here comes Juli, so dang inconsequential that athletes like Nikki and Heather gotta abandon the sinking ship that is NB Boston, with their presumed performance-enhancing scandal. Juli's perfectly content being in a different state while these two “train”
its all remote coaching. coaches need to be there during practices, make sure their athletes are performing correctly, stretching properly, not training hard enough or training too hard, knowing when to stop a workout if volume is too high. all the little things Smith did to make sure Nikki was at optimal health are now gone. Juli's only been with Nikki a few months and already Nikki got hurt before Philly GP.
maybe it's nothing but am curious how this works out. seems to be the latest trend as other runners are following Nikkis lead.
I’ve coached numerous Olympic Trials qualifying athletes, though none at Nikki’s level. However, I can’t imagine coaching any of my athletes I worked with remotely. I feel like 90% of what made things click in our training was because of the relationship I built with the athletes by seeing them on a daily basis, and being able to become so in sync that I knew exactly what was needed from one day to another and could make adjustments on the fly. The other 10% was a combination of their independent characteristics that made them great, along with a little luck :)
I wish them all nothing but success, but can’t fathom being a world class athlete with so many options at my fingertips, and choosing to have such a disconnect with my coaching and training situation. How can I have confidence in someone that checks in with me a couple times a week through a screen and I can’t even talk with them during workouts to get feedback?
Juli does have the experience and knowledge and is a reputable coach. That being said, let's not go over the top with Nikki as the gold standard just yet. Let's see how well Nikki does this summer under Juli's training and then measure success. I will say that having a coach present at key workout sessions is imperative and valuable. Yeah, you're not meeting everyday for workouts, who needs a coach standing on the side of the road with a stop watch during your hour recovery run! Meeting 2-3 times a week is the most you need and should cover all the necessary bases. I also believe in having a training group that meets 2-3 times a week is necessary. Having training partners for support and encouragement is a huge benefit and a nice distraction from the training grind.