Marathoners Reid Coolsaet and Eric Gillis help launch online run coaching program

Two of Canada’s fastest-ever marathon runners, Reid Coolsaet and Eric Gillis, have launched the Canadian version of a popular European online coaching system at www.vicsystem.com.

“I think people in Canada can really use this type of program,” Coolsaet tells Canadian Running. “We looked at other systems and some of these other programs are going to get people injured. With Vicsystem, you train really hard but there’s rest built in. We really believe in it, so that’s why we’re excited about it.”

The Guelph, Ont.-based training partners became intrigued by the coaching system last winter after they met the company founder, Patric Luthi, at the training camp in Kenya. Luthi, a Swiss computer engineer and recreational runner developed the program and launched the German-language edition in Europe in 2006. Since then, thousands of runners of all abilities have followed the system to train for all distances from 5Ks up to ultramarathons.

Coolsaet and Gillis plugged their own information into the program and were stunned to find that it prescribed workouts and training plans that were a near-perfect match to what they had already been doing with great success under their Speed River coach, Dave Scott-Thomas.

“It’s not the most up-to-date layout of a website, but the brains of it blew us away,” Coolsaet says. “When I put in my information, it blew my mind.”

The “Vic” in Vicsystem is short for “victory,” Coolsaet says, and it’s a system because it’s more than just a program – it’s dynamic. “If you get fitter as you’re going, it will change.”

Coolsaet and Gillis, who both represented Canada in the marathon at the 2012 London Olympics, worked with Luthi to develop an English-language version of the system for the Canadian market. Since it’s in kilometres, it won’t work for most Americans, but Coolsaet says they’ll consider working on another site that’s in miles.

Vicsystem scales well to suit runners of all abilities, Coolsaet says. There are three different levels you can pick, from off-the-couch beginner to recreational trainer to training for goal races. “Even the one with the goal races, you can pick preparatory races where you’re not tapering as much,” Coolsaet says. “It’s exactly like the way I run my season.”

Once you get used to the site it’s very easy to input your information, Coolsaet says. You need to plug your workout in every day and do a 4K time trial to assess your fitness.

The program costs $150 for a year, and anyone can sign up for a two-week free trial.

Coolsaet says he and Gillis hope to pitch Vicsystem to partner up with races in Canada, so runners train properly for them.