These are not mutually exclusive ideas. There are athletes who are highly coachable and some... not so much. As such, there are people who make for great coaches and others... not so much. But you don't have to be a very coachable person to be a good coach.

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Take a short break from ST and read my blog:
http://tri-banter.blogspot.com/

While I don't really coach people, I have a group of people I work with and they normally do the same thing I'm doing at the time, either scaled up or down according to their abilities.

Depends on where they are and what they want to do. If it’s a Pro, I don’t I Can help them. Someone wanting to finish a 5k/10k or casually run 3-4 times a week, surely, I’ll help making a plan to make it happen. If its someone I know, I’ll even run with them for pacing and motivation

"Do - what I do ... and say - what I say"

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

Coaching certifications are just barriers to entry into an industry. Having it doesn't make you a good or a bad coach, it just says you completed a curriculum and have a specific level of understanding. For the most part coaching in Endurance Sport is all human performance coaching whereas other sports are mostly tactics based and you have some of the greatest coaches of all time that have never competed in the sport they have coached.

You have a base of knowledge after such number of years that can definitely be shared with others.

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Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

The best coach I have ever met had no qualifications and was forced out by the National Governing Body about 18 years ago. He had about 40 athletes over about 15 years making it to the top.

The worst coach I have ever met by far was one of the most qualified working for the National Governing Body. He was and remains a disgusting, uneducated bafoon whose face seems to fit despite no consistent long term results to back up his supposed status.

This is pretty much my exact approach. It's much easier to build a couch to 5k/sprint type plan than to eek out those extra fractions of a percent.

You're probably more coachable than you think you are.
Coaching is a broad based term.

What we should do is chat about this over a run around Salem lake later this week or next week since I just arrived in NC for a unspecified period of time

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Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

As a triathlete its your duty to never hold back advice even when people arent asking for it or even into sport

Definitely some truth to this...however, the coaching certifications do bring liability insurance to the table. If you want to coach and don't have the certifications with the insurance coverage then the prudent thing is to look into insurance that is going to cover your "advice". Also be aware that going on and/or providing coaching/advice/guidance on a group ride/run/swim could be construed to be a "clinic" and then there can be specific hoops you have to jump through to make sure the insurance coverage still applies. If someone one gets injured while following your advice/experience/method/guidance then this can come back to haunt you in the form of financial liability in our very litigious society. This is a layered discussion of liability and different in different jurisdictions. Proceed with caution. There is a reason that coaches charge for their services beyond just the knowledge.

Some people know what to do and just need a coach to hold them accountable. They don't want to think about planning weeks of workouts. They are willing to pay you for that service.

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http://www.sfuelsgolonger.com

This is probably the biggest difference in modern day triathlon, compared to 35 years ago. Back then, football, baseball, and track had coaches. I don't remember a single fellow triathlete who ever had a coach in the 80's. It was quite a culture shock, when I got back into the sport after a long break. It seams like the modern idea is to get a coach, just like you get a bike and a wetsuit. It doesn't matter if you are winning races, winning age groups, or DFL. I get asked coaching type questions often. I have friends who won't deviate from whatever schedule their coach has them on. I have friends who will even call their coach, and ask for permission to run a little longer, or swap a bike for a swim or whatever. And probably what is the most interesting, and sometimes uncomfortable, is friends who ask me my opinion, about what their coach tells them to do. I personally don't get it most of the time. But I also don't want to get between a coach and a athlete. I'm with Herbert, and have done my own thing for over 40 years. I'm retired now, and train for the sake of training. Performance is a low priority, and I put in tons of volume, almost zero intensity, yet robot like consistency. Simply because I love to train. On race day, I kick a lot of asses, so people think I know what I'm doing. But the secret is, I really don't. I train by feel each day, always have, and always will. Every day is different. I have had friends message me, asking what workout they should do tomorrow. I say I have no idea how they feel today, I certainly don't know how they will feel tomorrow. It would be hard for me to coach anyone, when I don't even know what I'm going to do next.

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Athlinks / Strava

I do give advice (on all kinds of topics) but that is not what they mean with me coaching them.

Don't restrict your knowledge share it to just swim/bike/run either

In the weight room, it's perfectly acceptable to say "As a triathlete, I find that ..." and give advice on weights or reps or whatever

On the golf course, it's perfectly acceptable to say "As a triathlete, I find that ..." and give advice on swing mechanics or putting stroke

And so on

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

If you're an organic, non-GMO vegan triathlete, you're pretty much qualified to give advice on anything, anywhere.

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

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

I'm not a coach and I somehow found myself coaching one of the top cyclists in the world. I told them when we started this that I wasn't a coach and that I don't know what I'm doing, but that somehow didn't phase them :-) I'm constantly on the fence as to whether I should be doing it. It takes a fair amount of mind share as there are constant shocks to be thought about -- injuries, illness, changes to race schedules etc. I like that it forces me to keep on top of the latest research. Sharing someone else's success is also rewarding. I have major imposter syndrome though.

I'm amazed at some of my friends / acquaintances who race pretty regularly but pay no attention to some of the lowest hanging fruit sitting in front of them. I could do a credible job of getting their bike position dialed in and I've offered a few opinions but I leave it at that. I suppose I'm the same way though, my transitions suck and cost me places but I have yet to do anything about it.

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"They know f_ck-all over at Slowtwitch"
- Lionel Sanders

My wife is not a coach, and she always tells me when I can and cannot workout.

Where is that f*ing like button!

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808 > NYC > PDX > YVR
2024 Races: Taupo

X2

There's a difference between being certified and being registered as a coach. There are many people that are probably coaching right now that went through Level whatever at one point and aren't currently registered with the NGB as a coach. That registration is how you get the insurance.

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Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

HAHAHAH :D:D

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Tridad