I like to say that I am a coach with a client base of 1 (me)

I fully agree I would be faster with one, no doubt. I've had a great coach and it works (and is a large reason why I race decently now), buuuuuuuuuuut, at this point in my life I can go fast enough w/o worrying much about "training" and more about just doing workouts with some athletes i coach and not doing what might make a little better.

But it still blows my mind how one of my friends who beat me by like 15 minutes at kona can train as simple as, short w/u then just slightly slower than best average steady pace for the duration of the workout, however long it may be.

i have never really understood the "i don't want to think, just do what i'm told" perspective on coaching. If i needed to pay someone to tell me how and when to do my hobby, is it a hobby?

For many of the tip of the spear people it might be more than just a hobby. I qualify as tip of the spear right now but hoping to qualify for my pro card in 6 days. I pretty much follow my coach blindly as I'm fairly new to the sport. I give him my input as much as I feel is justified but I know he knows better than me and has gotten good results out of me so far so no reason to get adventurous yet.

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Benjamin Deal - Professional - Instagram - TriRig - Lodi Cyclery
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fair enough. and maybe my comment was more for the non-tip of the spear, but just below that.. the top 20 WTC AG ranks.

I have never had a tri coach. I had running coaches through university when I ran varsity and then a swim coach for a year when I joined a masters club. I have coached high school track and xc runners for 26 years so I am pretty confident putting together my own program. I used to be pretty close to the front overall in pretty much any distance I raced following a plan of my own design but now I'm in my 50s so I try and stay competitive in my age group.

Who needs a coach? Isn’t that what Slowtwitch is for?

For me it's about accountability. I could probably come up with workouts myself, but the fact that somebody else draws them up and checks up on the execution means I'm better motivated to actually do them properly. I used to give myself way to many days off or pulled the plug because "I wasn't feeling it". If that happens now, I still finish the workout and write in the description I wasn't feeling it.

For me, that has taken a lot of stress away, because my old way of doing things caused a lot of anxiety.

But then again, maybe my circumstances are special.

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Citizen of the world, former drunkard. Resident Traumatic Brain Injury advocate.

You forgot the time where he got 3rd at AG Nationals and won Steelhead overall the next day :)

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What's your CdA?

Tried one about 4-5 years ago.....lasted about 4 months. Couldn't meet the demands.....including taking a trainer with me when traveling....mutual decision to part ways. For some it works,but as seems here, not necessary to be FOP.

Of course it's not. That's why I specifically said "in small local races" because it wouldn't be "FOP" in nationals.

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Nourish - Sports Nutrition Made Easy

Think that assumption about length in the sport isn't so safe... There's plenty of people new to the sport with huge engines that are going to crush it as long as they can get out of the swim mid pack

That said, I use a coach with a few purposes
1) I am newer to the sport
2) I don't have the time to sit around and think about structured training, periodization, etc. It would take me 3x the time and I would get a shittier quality plan
3) It's good to have live feedback on where things are at - having a second set of eyes on numbers can help avoid making mistakes where you're biased

We'll see how long things go, but right now that's where I'm putting my budget for the sport towards. A $10k bike is pretty useless if you're not on a decent program (or just have loads of natural ability)

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Chasing PB Podcast Latest interview with Eli Hemming on Targeting a US MTR spot in Tokyo

sorry
from the side

In summary, if you want to excel as an athlete you need a coach.
You can either hire a coach or you can become your own coach.

thats prob the most important job of a coach... iam a coach and selfcoach myself and i guess 345 days a year that works well , but then a few days a year i make mistakes and a 2nd set of eyes there would be very helpful. and of course the mistakes happen when you are tired or emotional.
and yes 2d hand p4 and second hand race wheels for less than 3 k works ok
also entrance fees if you have a few results at least in europe many non branded long distance races are happy to give you a free entry

I do and honestly rely him on him for better focuced training, keeping me from over training among my learning how to swim, bike and run in a competitve sense. My first couple of years I was successful without a coach but found myself injured more than I liked.

I come from a team sports background and outside of having good genetics... swimming, biking and running is or was an emerging skill for me. At some point I may go it alone but for now appreciate the input.

I get that aspect of it.

I Self coached all last year, it got my pretty fit towards end of year but not race fit if that makes any sense. It also was somewhat of a mental drain worrying about if I was doing the right thing or not and trying to figure it out as I went. I found myself going back to old workouts I had done in past years even though my body was in different place then last year. I would not call my year of self coaching a failure but its easier for me to have a coach I communicate with and let him build my schedule.

Life is busy and hard enough if you can afford a good coach that you have good communication with and trust I think its a very good tool to have in the tool box.

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2024: Bevoman, Galveston, Alcatraz, Marble Falls, Santa Cruz