I have a coach for the following reasons:

1. I don't have to think or make decisions. I have a job, family, other obligations etc and I don't want to have to think about training. I simply open TP and know what I have to do for that day. I don't have to do mental gymnastics and plan. My life is too busy and when training for an IM that requires tons of training hours I just want to execute and not have to make extra decisions.

2. It prevents me from over training and less injuries. Yes, I know how I feel but my coach understands the trends in my numbers better than I do. He knows when I can push and when I need rest.

3. I don't want to plan training and second guess myself when I'm training...."is this the best workout out to get me to my goals, am I doing things in the correct order, how is my nutrition supporting my training:????? I just need to execute. I have to make a ton of decisions every day. I don't want to make more in training.

4. I'm not an expert.....my coach(s) is so I trust them.

5. I have a life.....I'm not a professional age grouper. I need the help.

6. I'm not a control freak

A (good) coach will help you balance your life, your training, and everything else that goes around it. A coach is going to take all of your inputs to build the right plan for you. This is everything from restrictions due to your kid's regular Wednesday soccer game, to finding out your coworker is leaving and you want to get to a going away happy hour instead of a run you were supposed to do.

A coach will reach out every few days (or at the very least respond to comments on workouts) to make sure you are feeling right.

A real coach isn't going to limit your communication with them. You are paying good money for a service that mostly is about communication. Building your plan is the easy part of coaching. Sure that takes some solid knowledge of endurance sports and how human bodies adapt to training, but it's everything else about building an athlete that is the hard part, and restricting communication only hinders that.

For the athletes I coach, I fully and 100% expect to get a text or email every couple of days or so asking for a modification, or a question about a workout or whatever. If I don't get that I reach out myself. Without that engagement I can't be a good coach. Now some athletes are very much self sufficient, they just do the work as laid out and don't need much care and feeding. Even for those I ask that they put in a comment into Training Peaks for everything they do. While I may not respond to every workout comment, I read every single one, so it's supremely helpful to me so I know where they are.

The common theme here is communication. What you get from a coach is going to be a plan, sure, but that's the easy part. The rest involves a reasonable level of back and forth communication so that the coach knows how you feel day to day, what random restrictions you get from day to day, and how to incorporate, or modify the plan to optimize your available time.

Your coach is your partner in your adventure. Someone who guides you in the right direction. Someone to talk to when you aren't feeling right. Someone who will keep you from hurting yourself (if you get hurt while being coached, your coach is doing something very wrong).

I have to say, you guys totally convinced me. I will definitely look into getting a coach as I think this is my best chance to avoid my training mistakes!

very good. tell us how it goes in 6 months :)

Perhaps it's self-serving to have a bunch of coaches sell you on hiring a coach, but it's worth it in my opinion. Both as a coach, and as someone who has a long-term coach.

Totally will! Thanks!

The value of a coach is to physically see you and correct when form breaks down in run or swim - adjust workout from that. Otherwise, many online training programs that replace coaches basically. I have seen coaches burn out athletes even though they were successful.

This makes me wonder, how many pro's do not have a coach?

I think you're using a different definition of "tired" than I typically do.

In the spectrum of fatigue I'd go like:

1) Tired: accumulated fatigue that takes a day or two of reduced training load to clear.
2) Over-reached: significant fatigue that takes a week or two to clear.
3) Overtrained: Completely broken recovery physiology. Takes months.

I'd call 1) just a part of training. If you're *never* tired you're simply not exploring the limitations of your training capacity.

2) can either be a mistake (explored, but went too far), or simply recovery from intense mid-season races.

3) is when you completely jack up your training.

Reading through this make me think that getting a coach would be an asset for anyone. I think the key is communicating expectations in the beginning and discussing the options on how to handle all the situations to can come up (Injury, fatigue, life etc).

The right coach will be a benefit for anyone, sure, recognizing that not every coach is right for everyone. But even so, a coach may not make sense for everyone. Coaching isn’t free, either financially or from a time commitment perspective.

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2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly