I just sort of coach myself, but I am not as hard core about the sport as most of you guys probably are. I only train for an average of 7 hours a week with my peak weeks topping out at only 11-12 hours. I only do up to the 70.3 distance races, have only been the overall race winner once, and my highest USAT score is just a 103.5.
I have been doing the sport for 6 years. My 4th year I did have a coaching scholarship. I expected to see huge gains working with a coach but I didn't progress any faster with a coach than I did planning my own season and training. Towards the end of the coaching period I was already noticing things that I felt needed attention that the coach was not address and so I looking forward to planning my own workouts again so I could customize them to the things that I felt needed to be worked on. My first day without a coach I felt like the first day out of school at beginning of each summer. I was free from structure from an authoritative figure and free to explore and make discoveries at my own pace. With the Coach I was doing about 30% more volume that what I do on my own. Tapers for races seemed to disappear with a coach and at the end of what were supposed to be rest weeks I often felt more fatigued than I did at the beginning of the week. I had a very positive experience with my one-year coach and would recommend him to anyone but feel that with guys who are twenty something years old who have been in the sport for less than 5 years being certified coaches that as a Masters Athlete my life experience suits me just fine to be able to put together a training plan. I PR'd at every race I did my first 4-1/2 years in the sport and continue to get faster into my 6th year in the sport and even with being a gray haired guy.
A coach can teach you things but you have to do the work. You can do the work without a coach and so at the cost of coaching I will stick with being self coached.
I have been doing the sport for 6 years. My 4th year I did have a coaching scholarship. I expected to see huge gains working with a coach but I didn't progress any faster with a coach than I did planning my own season and training. Towards the end of the coaching period I was already noticing things that I felt needed attention that the coach was not address and so I looking forward to planning my own workouts again so I could customize them to the things that I felt needed to be worked on. My first day without a coach I felt like the first day out of school at beginning of each summer. I was free from structure from an authoritative figure and free to explore and make discoveries at my own pace. With the Coach I was doing about 30% more volume that what I do on my own. Tapers for races seemed to disappear with a coach and at the end of what were supposed to be rest weeks I often felt more fatigued than I did at the beginning of the week. I had a very positive experience with my one-year coach and would recommend him to anyone but feel that with guys who are twenty something years old who have been in the sport for less than 5 years being certified coaches that as a Masters Athlete my life experience suits me just fine to be able to put together a training plan. I PR'd at every race I did my first 4-1/2 years in the sport and continue to get faster into my 6th year in the sport and even with being a gray haired guy.
A coach can teach you things but you have to do the work. You can do the work without a coach and so at the cost of coaching I will stick with being self coached.