Coaches — frequently asked questions

Go to Me → Your roles and toggle on Coach. You can hold Coach alongside Runner, Pacer, Crewer and Marshal at the same time. Once the role is on, athletes can find you when they search for a coach, and you can send athlete invite links.

Bield does not gate the Coach role behind a qualification check. However, you can upload coaching qualifications or mountain-leader certificates to your trust score — this makes you more visible and credible to athletes choosing a coach. Go to Me → Trust score → Qualifications to add them.

A coach is linked to an athlete via a mutual consent connection. Once linked, you can see the athlete's upcoming races and results (subject to their consent settings), and you can send them suggestions — pace plans, notes and nutrition guidance — which they can accept or decline. The athlete initiates the link or accepts your invite.

There is no hard cap set by Bield. Manage your own workload — athletes can see your other connections when they view your profile, so keeping a reasonable number helps build trust.

Athletes see your display name, Bield handle, profile photo, coaching qualifications (if verified), your trust score, notable races you have completed as a runner, and any references from past athletes. A short coaching bio and your coaching style help athletes decide whether you are a good fit.

Athletes search for coaches from Me → My coach — they can search by your Bield handle or name. When they find your profile and tap Request coaching, you receive an in-app notification. Accept or decline from your coaching dashboard.

From your coaching dashboard, generate an athlete invite link and send it to the athlete via any channel (email, WhatsApp, etc.). When they open the link and sign in (or create a Bield account), they are prompted to accept the coaching connection. The link is personal — it creates a connection specifically between you and that athlete.

The athlete appears in your coaching roster. You can now see their upcoming races (subject to their consent), send them suggestions, and use the coaching chat. The athlete sees you as their linked coach under Me → My coach.

Bield allows an athlete to be linked to one coach at a time. If an athlete wants to change coach, they must unlink from the current coach first. You will receive a notification if an athlete ends the coaching relationship.

From your coaching dashboard, open the athlete's entry and tap End coaching relationship. The athlete is notified. Any suggestions you have already sent remain visible to them, but you lose access to their race data. It is good practice to speak with the athlete before ending the link.

By default you can see the athlete's upcoming races (name, date, distance) and their published results. Deeper data — split times, pace plans, medical or dietary information — is only visible if the athlete has explicitly shared it with you via their consent settings.

Only if the athlete shares them with you. Splits are more sensitive than headline results — the athlete controls this separately. Ask the athlete to share their engagement data from their privacy settings if you need splits for coaching analysis.

Only if the athlete consciously issues a share pack that includes that data. You will not see it by default. If you need it for safe coaching (e.g. knowing about a condition that affects training load), discuss this with the athlete and ask them to share it.

Your access to their race data is revoked immediately when the coaching link is ended. Suggestions you have already sent remain in their history, but you cannot send new ones or view their upcoming races.

From your coaching dashboard, you can send the following suggestion types to a linked athlete:

• Pace plan — target elapsed times at each checkpoint of an upcoming race. The athlete sees it on Me → My coach, grouped by race, and can accept or decline it.
• Training notes — free-text coaching commentary, feedback or guidance.
• Nutrition guidance — fuelling and hydration recommendations for a race or training block.

Open the athlete's entry in your coaching dashboard, select their upcoming race, and tap Send pace plan. Enter your target elapsed time for each checkpoint on the course. Add a coaching note if helpful, then send. The athlete receives an in-app notification and can accept, decline or ask a question via coaching chat.

The accepted pace plan is saved to their engagement for that race. Their committed crew and pacers can see the checkpoint ETAs from the plan. The plan appears on their engagement page as the target schedule.

You receive a notification. The athlete's engagement continues without a coach-set pace plan — they may use the self-service pace calculator instead. Use coaching chat to discuss the reasons and revise if needed.

You can send a revised suggestion at any time. If the athlete has already accepted a pace plan and you send a new one for the same race, they will be prompted to review the update. Make clear in your coaching note what has changed and why.

No. You can only send race-specific suggestions (such as pace plans) for races that appear in the athlete's Bield engagement list. If the race is not there yet, ask the athlete to add it by tapping Add to my races on the race page first.

Open your coaching dashboard and tap the athlete's name. The chat thread for that athlete is accessible from their profile view. You can also reach it from the athlete's side via Me → My coach → Message coach.

Coaching chat is primarily text-based. For sharing training plans or documents, use a coaching note suggestion (which supports formatted text) or send a link to an external document. Check the latest version of the app — file sharing capability may have been added since this guide was published.

Coaching chat messages are private between you and your athlete. They are not visible to other Bield users, race teams or organisers. Bield staff can access messages in response to a safety or policy concern — see the Bield privacy policy for full details.

Both parties retain read access to the historic chat thread after the relationship ends, but neither can send new messages. The thread is preserved as a record of the coaching history.

Go to Me → Trust score → Qualifications and upload your certificate. A Bield moderator verifies it and the verified flag appears on your profile. The certificate image is not stored after verification.

The trust score (0–200) helps athletes decide whether to link with you as their coach. It builds from verified background checks, coaching qualifications, first-aid certificates, references from past athletes and race contacts. A higher score signals credibility and builds athlete confidence.

Go to Me → Notifications. Relevant categories for coaches include athlete connection requests, suggestion responses (accepted / declined), coaching chat messages and engagement status changes for athletes whose data you can see.

Yes. Being a coach on Bield does not prevent you from linking with your own coach as an athlete. Both relationships are independent — your coaching dashboard shows your athletes; Me → My coach shows your own coach link.

Go to Me → Privacy & data. Export my data delivers a JSON of everything Bield holds on you. Delete account begins a 30-day grace period — cancel by emailing privacy@bield.run within that window. Note: deleting your account ends all active coaching relationships immediately.

Check Me → Billing for the current tier structure. Some coaching features may require Bield Premium. The free tier allows you to create a coach profile and appear in search — check the billing screen to see which sending and visibility features require Premium.

The coaching features require both you and your athlete to have Bield accounts. If your athlete is not yet on Bield, send them your invite link — it guides them through creating an account and accepting the coaching connection in one step. Until they create an account and accept, you cannot see their race data or send them suggestions.

No. You can only see races that are in the athlete's Bield engagement list (races they have tapped Add to my races on). Favourited or bookmarked races they are considering are private. Ask the athlete to add races they are planning around so you can send suggestions for them.

Pace plans are linked to a specific race engagement. If the race is postponed and a new date is set, the organiser may create a new edition — in which case the athlete would need to add the new edition and you would need to send a fresh plan. If the race is cancelled, the engagement closes and the pace plan is retained in history but is no longer active.

If the organiser published split timing data and the athlete has shared it with you, you can compare the accepted pace plan against actual split times on the athlete's engagement. This debrief view is a valuable coaching tool for adjusting future plans. Ask the athlete to share their engagement data if splits are not visible.

Yes. There is no geographic restriction on the coaching relationship in Bield. Coaching chat and suggestions work regardless of where you or your athlete are based. All distances, elevations and times are shown in the athlete's chosen units.

No. Any coaching fees or arrangements are entirely between you and your athlete — Bield does not facilitate, enforce or recommend a rate. Some coaches charge, some mentor for free. This is your professional practice; Bield provides the coordination tools only.

Nutrition guidance sent as a coaching suggestion appears in the athlete's coaching inbox — it is not directly imported into the Bield pace calculator's fuelling fields. Share your nutrition recommendations as text in the suggestion note; the athlete can then manually adjust their fuelling plan in the calculator using your guidance.

Bield does not currently have specific under-18 features. If you coach young athletes, ensure you have the appropriate safeguarding qualifications (such as a UK Athletics Safeguarding in Sport certificate), comply with your governing body's guidance on coaching minors, and obtain parental consent before using any digital coaching platform. Contact support@bield.run if you have concerns about the platform's suitability.

Yes. The athlete can see the full history of suggestions you have sent on their Me → My coach screen, including earlier versions of pace plans for the same race. This is useful for reviewing how your planning approach evolved and explaining to the athlete why a later plan differs from an earlier one.

A welfare concern during a race is primarily the race organiser's responsibility. If your athlete sends you a message via coaching chat during the race flagging distress, contact them directly by phone, then notify the race director (via the race page contact or their emergency number). Do not rely on Bield messaging alone in an emergency — phone is faster and more reliable on course.