Online running coaching — worldwide
One-to-one coaching delivered online, wherever in the world you run — from your first 5K to the Olympic marathon.
“One of the most successful online running coaches on the planet.”
Built for first 5Ks. sub-3 dreams. Boston qualifiers. 24-hour ultras. Olympic standards. your next PB.
four decades of developing runners — much of it given for free
produced by the Stazza method across the Stable
and personal records at every level in between
at the Stable's high-altitude camp in Iten, Kenya
Bespoke Online Coaching
Six steps. One athlete at a time. Every plan built from scratch on four decades of coaching.
No qualifying time, no minimum pace — the plan starts wherever you are today, from a first parkrun to a PB you’ve chased for years.
Every Stablemate starts with a comprehensive profile questionnaire and ancillary assessment — your history, strengths, weaknesses and the life you run around.
A 30 minute video call with the Stablemaster himself. Goals, ambitions, fears — everything on the table before a single session is written.
Now everything you've shared becomes the plan — built around you and your goal, charting the training blocks, peaks, recovery and races that lead there.
Every workout is delivered through Final Surge — precise, purposeful and planned for you alone. Stazza sees what you log and answers the notes you leave on each session.
A few minutes each week to reflect together — he folds in your feedback, heads off fatigue and makes small, targeted tweaks that quietly add up.
Once a month you step back across the bigger picture — patterns in training, fatigue and recovery surface, and informed adjustments keep everything pulling toward your goal.
Keep scrolling
From the track to round the clock
Whatever the distance — there's a plan for it
Proof, not promises
Aoife Cooke came to the Stable with a 2:46 marathon. 10 months later she ran 2:32:34 to win the Irish national title — and went on to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics.
“Through the Stable, we changed her life for the better.”
Jason Crosbie — an hour off the marathon
Darren O’Connor — 46 minutes, and under three
Ken Graham — sub-3 in 10 months
David Greene — 15 minutes in 9 months
Your name could be on this board.
Start the conversation →The Stablemaster
The Runner
Long before the coaching, John Starrett — “Stazza” — was the athlete: fast across every distance, and sharp enough to make the clock work for him.
His own personal bests.
What He Gave
“As a young runner, many people helped me for free. As a coach, I coached for 30+ years for free.”
Before a single invoice, he was coaching upward of fifty runners on Strava for nothing — repaying a debt to the sport that made him.
The Stable
In 2017 he took it online. One of the first to find him on Strava was an Irish marathoner who — inside a year — was national champion and a Tokyo Olympian. From there the Stable grew into a worldwide community — runners from Ireland and the UK to mainland Europe, Kenya, the USA, and many more, all coached online.
Today
Four decades on, John coaches from Thailand and on the ground at his altitude camps in Iten, Kenya — beginners to Olympians, the 1500 m to 24-hour ultras. The method never changed: built around you, never a template.
Iten, Kenya · on the ground
The Last Race
At 61, from a standing start in Thailand, Coach Stazza is finally running his own first marathon — the method he’s given hundreds of runners, now put to the test on himself, before he turns 65.
The goal
Sub-2:45
For coaches
The Stazza's Stable Certified Online Running Coach course hands over the whole method — twelve modules, weekly group mentorship with Coach Stazza, and a place in the Stable's coach directory. There's even “Coaching the Coaches”, an in-person intensive alongside his elite Kenyan runners.
Principles of endurance, applied physiology, three levels of periodisation and programme design, strength & conditioning, recovery and injury, environmental adaptations.
Coaching psychology and communication, inclusive coaching practices, nutrition coaching, and data & performance tracking.
Onboarding and coaching systems, business and brand foundations, done-for-you templates and questionnaires — everything to run a real coaching practice.
“I went from full-time in the motor trade to a full-time coach managing over 70 athletes.”
“John doesn't teach from notes — he teaches from life.”
And on top — Kenya
Every so often, the Stable decamps to Iten — the “Home of Champions”, perched on the Elgeyo Escarpment above the Great Rift Valley. Run camps woven straight into your coaching plan, guided by world-renowned coaches including Kenya's top distance guru John Ewoi. An add-on, not the main event — and open to all abilities.
One-to-one coaching with the Stablemaster himself is part of every camp.
Daily guided runs with elite-level pacers, tailored to your level.
Tambach, Kipchoge Keino Stadium and Chepkoilel — the tracks of champions.
All-inclusive stays with local organic produce — vegetarian and vegan covered.
Complimentary sports massage plus strength, nutrition and technique sessions.
Rift Valley excursions and visits inside elite Kenyan training camps.
Places are limited — camps are announced via The Stable News.
The Stable News
A “hard-hitting, fast-talking running tabloid” — race reports, stablemate profiles and dispatches from around the world, written by the runners living it.
The Stable News · 11 May 2024
Read story →
The Stable News · 29 Mar 2024
Read story →
The Stable News · 29 Mar 2024
Read story →Watch & Listen
Join the Stable
Stazza reads and answers every email himself — usually within a day. He’ll share more detail and set up a relaxed, no-obligation first call to talk through your goals and where your running is right now.
Ask the Stablemaster
Tap a question to read Stazza’s answer.
Not a bit of it. In forty years I’ve coached the whole herd — first-timers right through to national, European and Olympic standard — and everyone gets the same care. You don’t need a fancy PB to earn a stall in the Stable; you need to want to get better.
We start properly. You fill in a detailed profile questionnaire, then we sit down for a 60-to-90-minute video call to get the full picture of you. From there I build your plan from scratch and deliver it through Final Surge — you log every session and leave notes, and I read them and adjust. Your weekly and monthly check-ins run through a short questionnaire, so I always know how you’re really going; and we book a video call roughly every six weeks, plus before and after your key races.
Where you start depends on where you are. I read your questionnaire, your assessment and our first call, then place you in the phase that gives the best return right now. See it as a map, not a script: Foundation builds rhythm and durability, Pre-Superbase adds relaxed speed, Superbase grows aerobic strength, Bridge turns it toward race relevance, and Marathon Training sharpens the specifics before a deliberate taper. You won’t chase fitness here — it comes to you.
The quickest way to ruin a runner is too much, too soon — so we don’t. Your plan moves on how you’re actually responding, week by week, with no daft spikes; that’s why I want every session logged and why I’m watching it. No fluff, no fads — just steady, proven graft that builds you up rather than breaking you down.
You’re getting a coach, not an app. I see your training as you log it, I read every note and check-in you send through, and we get on a video call regularly through the year. It’s a conversation that runs all year — not a plan you download and never hear from me again.
Everything from 1500m on the track to a 24-hour ultra, and most things in between. The marathon is my great love — it’s what the podcast is built on — but middle-distance and ultra folk all have a home in the Stable. Tell me your event and your goal; I’ll build the road to it.
One-to-one coaching for as long as you’re chasing the goal. The training is built around your life, not the other way round — a few honest minutes logging and checking in each week, and the work fits where you are.
