Elite Coaching Without The Secret Sauce

CTS athletes captured nine Top 10 finishes at the 2026 Western States 100, including a course record and the overall women's victory.

In this episode, Cliff Pittman explains what those results actually say about coaching. We discuss the three pillars that guide every CTS coach: personal connection, evidence-based training, and thoughtful use of data, and why those same principles apply whether you're training for your first ultramarathon or competing for a podium.

HOST

Cliff Pittman is the Coaching Development Director at CTS, leading the Ultrarunning and Cycling Coaching staff with a specialty in guiding athletes from first-time ultrarunners to elite competitors at races like Western States 100, Leadville 100, and the Triple Crown of 200s. A competitive trail and ultra athlete himself, Cliff brings firsthand experience and a rare ability to turn complex training science into simple, actionable coaching.

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Transcript

Western States Results And Credit

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This year at Western States, our CTS athletes took 50% of the men's top 10, 40% of the women's top 10, and the overall women's win in a new course record, and three podiums across both races. I'm Cliff Pittman, Director of Coaching at CTS. I coach athletes from first-time ultrarunners to some of the best in the world. And today I want to talk about what elite coaching actually gets right to produce results like this. It's not a secret method or a proprietary protocol, but the core pillars of our coaching philosophy at CTS and why they apply just as much to the athlete training for their first 50k as they do to the athletes standing on the podium at Western States. Let's start with the fact that matters most. At CTS, we're privileged to work with world-class athletes. Jen Lichter won her first ever 100 miler and broke the course record, running 15 hours and 28 minutes on one of the most iconic and hardest courses in the sport. Riley Brady finished second, running the third fastest woman's time in history of the event, and cutting nearly five hours off their previous best on that course. Ryan Montgomery finished third in the third fastest men's time ever run at Western States. And Adam Peterman, Jeff McGavro, Canyon Woodward, and Will Murray all finished inside the men's top ten. And Fuzal and Hannah Allgood finished inside the fastest women's top ten in history as well. That's a lot of talent. That is years of accumulated work. That is the ability to execute under pressure on a single day when it counts the most. The athletes deserve the majority of the credit for those results. So what did coaching actually

Why No One Has A Secret Protocol

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contribute to? Well, there's a narrative in this sport right now that elite performance comes from some proprietary protocol, maybe a specific workout or a certain program or some system that if you had access to it, you would unlock results that you can't get otherwise. I've made a full video breaking down why the evidence around workouts or muscular endurance doesn't support that idea. And I'd point you there if you want the physiology behind it. But here's the short version, relevant to today. Results like this don't come from a secret formula or a shortcut or a placement to running. They come from a coach who can provide a good framework, helps make day-to-day decisions around load management, and who can craft a realistic race strategy that gets the most out of their athlete. That's what elite coaching actually gets right. And it comes down to three pillars that we implement here at CTS. The three pillars we apply to every single athlete that we coach, whether that's someone training for their first 50k or someone standing on the podium at Western States.

Pillar One Trust And Communication

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The first pillar is personal connection and communication. See, trust has to be earned and it has to be maintained through honest, consistent communication over time. This is the foundation everything else sits on. If an athlete doesn't trust their coach, they won't tell the truth about how training actually feels, and they'll push through warning signs because they don't want to disappoint their coach, or they'll quietly stop trusting the plan and start freelancing. Either one leads to worse decisions. And the relationship isn't a soft add-on to coaching, it's the mechanism that makes every other decision accurate. Ask yourself this: if you're working with a coach or if you're coaching yourself, do you actually have an honest read on how your body is responding right now? If you're guessing, hoping the plan is working because it looks right on paper, then that's a problem.

Pillar Two Evidence-Based Training

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The second pillar is evidence-based training. Not flashy trends tied to financial incentives, not whatever protocol is dominating the conversation this season. Principles that hold up to scrutiny applied specifically to the individual in front of you. This is where a lot of well-intentioned training goes wrong. Athletes borrow a program built for someone else's physiology or someone else's event demands or someone else's life and wonder why it doesn't produce the same result. Evidence-based training means starting from what the research actually supports, then adjusting it to the person, not the other

Pillar Three Data With Judgment

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way around. The third pillar is using data and technology to inform coaching decisions. Data doesn't replace judgment, it sharpens it. Training load, heart rate trends, sleep, subjective feel, all of it tells us when to trust what an athlete is reporting and when to look a little closer. A coach without data is guessing more than they should, and more of a cheerleader and accountability partner than an actual coach. A coach who only looks at data and ignores how the athlete actually feels is also missing half the picture. Pillar is using both together. Now, those three pillars, personal connection, evidence-based training, and data, are what our coaches apply every day with every athlete, regardless of their ability level. It's not a special approach we reserve for our elite roster. It's the same framework, whether you're brand new to the sport or racing for the win at Western States. That's the consistency, which is the entire point.

A System That Works Across Coaches

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And here's what I think is most important detail in this entire result at Western States, and it's the part that gets overlooked. Nine CTS athletes finished top 10 across men's and women's field this year. And they worked with four different coaches. Our head coach, Jason Coop, has talked about the progression that got us here. In 2024, Coop had a full podium sweep in the women's field. In 2025, we had a one-two finish, along with more athletes in the top 10 across both races. And now in 2026, four different coaches guided nine athletes to top ten finishes. And think about what that means. If this were a result of one person holding a secret system with special workouts, you would expect one or two coaches, a few athletes, occasional big results, and then silence until the next lucky break. Now that's not what happened. What happened is a high performance team that has systematized success at the front of the race, year over year across multiple coaches and multiple athletes with completely different strengths and limiters. That's what it looks like when a coaching philosophy works. Not one person holding an answer that doesn't transfer. Three pillars applied consistently, transferring cleanly from coach to coach and athlete to athlete because they're built on principles instead of tricks. So what does this mean if you're not chasing a Western States

How Non-Elite Runners Apply The Pillars

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podium? If you're training for your first ultra or trying to finally break through a plateau you've been stuck at for years, these are still your pillars. You don't need a proprietary protocol. You need an honest communication about how training feels. Training built on evidence instead of whatever's trending, and enough data to know when to trust the plan and when to adjust it. The specifics of your training will look nothing like Jen Lecter's, Katie Scheid's, Abby Hall's, or Ryan Montgomery's. Your volume, your intensity distribution, your race strategy, all of that has to be built around your life in your event. But the philosophy behind it is the exact same philosophy behind this result at Western states. Personal connection, evidence-based training, and data applied consistently over time by someone who actually knows what they're looking at. Major in the basics, minor in the marginal gains. That's not a throwaway line, I say for effect. It's the entire philosophy behind everything you just heard. The athletes made this result. What elite coaching got right was staying anchored to the three pillars instead of chasing something more exciting. No secret, no magic formula, just a philosophy that works, applied consistently by an entire team that trusts

Major In The Basics And Next Steps

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it. If you want coaching built on this philosophy, applied specifically to your goals and your event, visit trainright.com to connect with one of 65 CTS coaches and subscribe for more coach driven ultrarunning education.