Membership Rules
These are the rules of membership for runwithian.
They exist to protect the quality of the services provided, to keep things fair across a small, exclusive membership, and to keep every member safe and well looked after. When you accept a place, you join a special family, and agree to be bound by them.
None of this is meant to feel heavy. Most of it is simply what a good coaching relationship needs to work. Read it once, properly, before you join, and ask Ian about anything that is not clear. It is always better to ask before than after.
1. Joining
Membership is by application, and a recce call, and Ian reviews every application himself. Whether to offer a place is his decision, and a place is competitive because membership is strictly limited to [a maximum of six clients at any one time, to confirm]. Your membership begins on the date Ian confirms your place, once terms are agreed and your first payment has cleared. If you would like to refer someone, you are welcome to write to ian.baynes@runwithian.com, though a referral does not guarantee them a place.
2. Sessions and punctuality
Please attend your scheduled sessions on time and ready to work, whether they are in person on the Cotswold trails, at an agreed location, or by video call. If you cannot make a session, give at least 24 hours' notice through the client portal or by email. Sessions cancelled with less notice may be lost, and repeated late cancellations are treated as a breach of these rules. Ian holds himself to the same standard, and if illness, injury or the unexpected forces him to move a session, he will rearrange it at the earliest time that suits you both.
3. Health and your duty to tell Ian
Before you start, you complete a short health questionnaire and confirm you are well enough to train. Throughout your membership, you agree to tell Ian, promptly and honestly, about any medical condition, injury, illness, medication or change in how you feel that could affect your training. runwithian cannot be held responsible for harm that follows from something you did not disclose.
If Ian has any concerns about your readiness to train, he may adjust your plan, pause it, or refer you to a medical professional. Your safety and long-term health always come before any race target or training milestone. Rest, recovery and adaptation are part of the plan, not time off from it.
Coaching from runwithian is running guidance, not medical advice, and it never replaces your GP or a qualified clinician. If you feel unwell or in pain, stop and get advice. If in doubt, get checked before you run.
4. Your training plan
Your plan is built around your body, your life and your goals, and it changes as you do. Engaging with it properly is the deal: completing your sessions, logging your runs as asked, and reporting progress and fatigue honestly so Ian can coach the runner you are this week.
Please talk to Ian before making big changes. Large unplanned jumps in mileage, extra hard sessions that were not prescribed, or ignoring easy-run paces all raise your injury risk and undermine the training effect. If you keep disengaging from the programme, Ian may ask to meet and work out what is getting in the way.
5. Fuelling and lifestyle
Good nutrition and sensible lifestyle habits do as much for your running as the training itself, so you agree to engage with the fuelling and recovery guidance in your programme. RunWithian coaches a healthy, sustainable approach and does not support extreme dieting, fad approaches, or anything that puts your health at risk. Please talk to Ian and to the specialists where relevant, before any significant change.
6. Sleep and recovery
Sleep is the most powerful recovery tool you have. You agree to take it seriously, follow the recovery strategies you and Ian agree on, and report how you are sleeping at your check-ins. Please avoid hard training when badly sleep-deprived. If sleep is a persistent problem, runwithian may suggest a referral to a sleep specialist.
7. Respect
runwithian is a small and personal set-up, and everyone in it is treated with courtesy and honesty. The same is expected of you in every interaction with Ian, with specialist practitioners, and with any fellow member you meet. Abusive, offensive or threatening behaviour suspends a membership immediately and may end it without refund.
8. The privacy of other members
Because membership is small, you may become aware of who else is a member, or be invited to train or meet with another member, where all parties agree it would be of benefit. runwithian members include people who may have their own security detail and staff, and a significant interest in protecting their own privacy. That privacy is part of what makes runwithian what it is, and eroding or disrespecting it will not be tolerated. Joining or considering joining, in order to meet or get to know high-profile individuals, is not accepted in any form. You agree never to identify, discuss or reveal another member anywhere, whether in public, online, to the press, or privately to a third party. That includes anything about their health, their training, their goals or their circumstances. This protects every member, including you.
9. Social media and press
Share your own running journey as much as you like. Celebrate the milestones, the races and the personal bests. The only limits are that you must not identify, photograph or reference another member without their clear permission, and you must not speak to any journalist, blogger or media outlet about your coaching, another member, or programme content without agreeing it with runwithian first.
10. Clean sport
runwithian is firmly against doping, in line with the World Anti-Doping Agency and UK Anti-Doping. You agree not to use, hold or supply prohibited performance-enhancing substances in connection with your training. Doing so ends a membership immediately and without refund.
11. Fees and payment
The fee for your tier is set out in your membership agreement, and all fees are payable in advance. It is your responsibility to keep your payment details current. If a payment fails, runwithian will make reasonable attempts to reach you, and your membership may be paused until the balance is cleared. Your fee holds your place and your coaching for the period, in the same way a seat at a table is held, whether or not you sit down, so it remains due whether or not you use every session that period.
12. Pausing, cancelling and ending membership
Life happens, and if you need to pause for injury, work or family, talk to Ian, and you will find a fair way through rather than paying for services you cannot use.
If you joined online, you have a statutory right to cancel within 14 days of accepting your place, under UK consumer law.
If you ask runwithian to begin coaching within that period and then cancel, you will be charged for the minimum term . After that, notice periods and minimum terms depend on your tier and are set out in your membership agreement.
runwithian may suspend or end a membership where these rules are seriously or repeatedly broken, where your application was materially misleading, or where fees go unpaid.
Where a membership is ended this way, fees already paid are not refunded.
If Ian is ever unable to coach for a sustained period through serious injury or illness, runwithian will arrange associate cover, or pause your membership and extend the term, or, where neither is possible, agree a solution with the client for the affected period. This applies to every tier. Nothing in this rule, or anywhere in these rules, removes or reduces the rights you have under the law of England and Wales.
13. Your data
runwithian only ever holds the information needed to coach you well, including your health and training data, and uses it for nothing else. It is handled securely, in line with the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018, kept only as long as it is useful to your coaching, and never sold or shared without your consent except where the law requires it. Full details are in the Privacy Policy.
14. Risk and liability
Running, trail running, and endurance training carry an inherent risk of injury, and by becoming a member, you accept that risk. runwithian carries appropriate insurance and is not liable for injury, illness, loss or damage arising from your training, except where caused by its own negligence. Nothing here limits liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, or any other liability that cannot lawfully be excluded. You are encouraged to hold your own personal health and accident cover.
15. Changes to these rules
These rules may be updated from time to time. If a change is meaningful, runwithian will tell members directly and give reasonable notice before it takes effect. The current version always lives on this page, with the date it last changed, and continuing your membership after a change means you accept the updated rules.
Our ethos: Self, Family, Others
Everything at runwithian comes back to one idea: you cannot give what you have not got. Self, Family, Others asks you to invest in yourself first, so you show up stronger for the people who depend on you. It is not permission to be selfish. It is an instruction to be sustainable.
Hold it on race day, hold it through the hard blocks, and most of all hold it on the quiet Tuesday morning when the alarm goes early and the easy run feels inconvenient. That decision, repeated and repeated again, is the whole thing.
Decide. Commit. Succeed.
Questions about these rules?
Email ian.baynes@runwithian.com and Ian will answer himself.