Do you have an established communication cadence?

Working through Trainingpeaks comments is great for Day to Day Feedback, but I believe that you have have a relatively understood meeting schedule. For some once a week works, for others it's once a month or a quarter. I think it's best to save more conversational pieces to these meetings.

As a coach, I put into Trainingpeaks ATP different topics that I want to discuss / focus on with athletes based on their events, needs, and schedule.
Examples; I like to work with Stage Race Mountain bikers, so in the months leading up we'll talk about Bike Fit, Suspension Set Up, On bike and off-bike nutrition, Race-week Recovery Techniques, etc. I plan these for times where they're most relevant. E.g. Bike fit is more important to dial in sooner than suspension set-up.

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I also give Training Advice via http://www.ForeverEndurance.com

The above poster has eschewed traditional employment and is currently undertaking the ill-conceived task of launching his own hardgoods company. Statements are not made on behalf of nor reflective of anything in any manner... unless they're good, then they count.
http://www.AGNCYINNOVATION.com

I sincerely hope you meant to say "I'm not sure how to best utilize his expertise and input"

Because "take advantage" sounds a little creepy LOL

I can't help you otherwise, I'm sorry, as I have identified myself as notoriously non-coachable

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

Agree with just establishing a routine. I like the beginning or end of the week (Sunday/Monday). Recap the previous week & preview the next week of training. Then you get a good idea of why you're doing the things you're doing. The race specific questions will get answered as you get closer to races. I think athlete level plays a role too. An experienced athlete might do well with limited communication, while a newer athlete might want a more hands on approach. There are coaches who can write good workouts but aren't great at communication. But it's a 2 way street. If you're utilizing the comments section on Training Peaks and want them to respond but never tell them that then it might just lead to a ton of frustration when they would have communicated there after receiving that feedback.

This is a great question! I think it is important to realize that a coach doesn't have a way of knowing how you feel during a session and how you are coping with the overall training load. It is possible to see the objective training metrics, but you are the only one who knows how you feel during the training and sharing that with your coach will help them to provide you with better, more specific sessions.

A starting point would be providing feedback on individual sessions: eg "I felt that was too hard", "I couldn't quite execute the last interval at the intended intensity without going too deep", "I felt great and feel ready to extend the session". If you can provide more qualitative descriptions of your sensations that would be great: eg "I had the legs to keep going, but felt like I couldn't breathe fast enough", "I felt under control, but my arms were heavy and I couldn't turn them over fast enough to hold the pace". Then provide feedback at a higher level providing you thoughts and feelings on the week and the total training load.

I think a good coach provides a training plan knowing that it is a guideline, but that it needs to be adjusted based on how you respond to the stimulus and how you adapt to the training. They can see some of that through the training metrics you capture, but adding to that through good subjective feedback that you provide will further improve how they manage and adjust your training.

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Hiiiii! Yes, how to best utilize his expertise!! That's was I meant, of course!!
How would you define being coachable by the way?

You should ask those questions.
Dialling in hydration and pacing is something that happens in training. In the early phase of working with a new athlete I have hydration and fuelling as a main focus as most people don't know how to maximise their performance in those regards. Pacing becomes more of a focus in the event specific part of the build.
Aero is a different field, few coaches have a good handle on that. But if he does - better to work on that early too.

Maximise the agreed to level of contact to ask your questions. You will not get the best out of yourself if you just swim/bike/run

I don't have a set schedule for communication with my athletes but there is near daily feedback on training in TP and athletes know that I am a text or call away. Some I don't have more than 1-2 phone conversations in a year, but others love a pre-race and post-race breakdown. There is definitely weekly texting about gear, nutrition, schedule with every athlete and I just allow them to set the tone unless I need to convey something important. So far this has worked for me and my communication with my coach is on the same schedule.

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