"No pain, no gain strategy will cut short your running career" - Ashok Nath, Founder, Catalyst Sports Interview

Ashok Nath

You offer mentoring services to the runners. Can you tell us a little more about it?

The simple fact is, that to be successful in your running event, it requires more than just hard training.

Most runners train for months, but then feel dissatisfied with their race performance as some element or other didn’t fall into place. Indeed, if you don’t have a proper fueling and hydration plan, a pacing plan, the right mental attitude and so forth, then your likelihood to do well in a race is entirely left to chance.

When you engage with a mentor, you maximise your chances to do well as you have a learned expert working by your side.

A good mentor invests time to understand his mentee – life responsibilities and personality type, running history and ambitions to cite a few aspects – and then assesses their running capabilities to grasp their potential.

Based on their expertise, a challenging but realistic goal is set for the mentee which the two work towards intimately.

How are you going to track the progress and quantify the outcome in the mentoring service that you provide?

We live in a digital age and distances are easily straddled through a call, email or messaging. As Catalyst Sports is a premium service, we will work with a limited number of runners to ensure that we deliver on our commitments without compromising on quality.

Outcome will be both quantitative and qualitative. On the former, a time goal is easily measureable. The latter will lie in aspects like imparting knowledge and discipline that make my mentee a better grounded runner, which they will themselves realise.

Is your service available throughout the country?

Awareness of Catalyst Sports is through the online media, PR and positive word-of-mouth. Perforce this makes our service available to one and all if they see a fit with their own aspirations as a runner.

Do you cater to only individuals or do you associate with corporate as well?

There are two services that specifically address corporate, namely Running Form Workshops (half or full day) and Guest Speaker Sessions. The intent is that the more serious employee in a corporate will follow up directly with Catalyst Sports for a deeper engagement.

Any advice to our readers who want to take up running?

Follow the principle of gradual progression and enjoy the journey. Macho thoughts like “No pain, no gain” will only cut short your running career.