A couple months ago I posted a message about deep wheels that I wished someone had posted before I bought my wheels. Well, here is the post that I wish I had seen about coaching before I started looking for a coach.
TLDR: Mike has been a great coach. I'm winning for the first time ever in a long career.
I've been doing tri for roughly the last 20 years with a big break in the middle when my kids were very young. Prior to kids, I was self coached and doing 70.6 distance with finish times around 5:30. When the kids got older, I brought them with me to the sprint tri distance. I was still self coached and getting very frustrated at working so hard and not improving. While self coached, I would get 4th through 8th place in my age group (45-49) on every race. Rarely I would get 3rd AG but only for tiny races.
I started with Mike/TriPower just before this race season, hoping for an end to the lockdowns. I was already in good shape with a couple years of sprint tri racing, and of course 20 years of experience.
In March I ran a 5k and blew away my lifetime PR. I ran faster at 48 then I was running at 21 years old.
At this point, around March/April, I went off the reservation and tore my hamstring. I did a bunch of stoopid stuff that had nothing to do with Mike or his training plan. I confessed my sins to Mike and he assigned my penance. He got me back in shape pretty quickly and without further damage.
Mike is also coaching my wife. Her story is much shorter. In brief, she has very little athletic experience prior to taking up sprint tri 2 years ago. This season, she wins her AG almost every race. She might have gotten 2nd once but every other race is a 1st AG. No, I'm not bitter. Really, I'm not. I'm happy for her ...
Now, the caveat's and downsides. Mike fits my needs and personality so the downsides aren't very important to me.
He is the value leader in coaching, charging a fraction of what many other coaches charge. For that reduced price, he isn't going to call you immediately after every workout to discuss that 3rd interval.
I typically get a message from him once a week with the workout assignments for the next week. He will, on occasion, ask me a question if a key workout did not go well. He did check with me recently when my 3rd interval did not go well and then the workout abruptly ended, but no the dog tied to my waist decided to have a dance party with a squirrel during a high speed interval, then my watch battery died.
If I have a question for him, he generally responds during that one weekly email. However, a couple times I have asked him a more urgent question and he responded the same day.
Overall, I am very happy. My performance had been on a plateau for years and is now steadily improving. My wife went from beginner to dominating local sprints. Both of us are staying healthy and injury free with his coaching.
TLDR: Mike has been a great coach. I'm winning for the first time ever in a long career.
I've been doing tri for roughly the last 20 years with a big break in the middle when my kids were very young. Prior to kids, I was self coached and doing 70.6 distance with finish times around 5:30. When the kids got older, I brought them with me to the sprint tri distance. I was still self coached and getting very frustrated at working so hard and not improving. While self coached, I would get 4th through 8th place in my age group (45-49) on every race. Rarely I would get 3rd AG but only for tiny races.
I started with Mike/TriPower just before this race season, hoping for an end to the lockdowns. I was already in good shape with a couple years of sprint tri racing, and of course 20 years of experience.
- Mike kept my training volume at basically the same place that I had it
- My FTP very quickly increased by 10%
- More importantly, my 5k time had been very stubbornly stuck on 24'. Mike got it down to 21'.
- My swim has not changed, I was already decent and I'm remaining decent at a very low level of effort.
In March I ran a 5k and blew away my lifetime PR. I ran faster at 48 then I was running at 21 years old.
At this point, around March/April, I went off the reservation and tore my hamstring. I did a bunch of stoopid stuff that had nothing to do with Mike or his training plan. I confessed my sins to Mike and he assigned my penance. He got me back in shape pretty quickly and without further damage.
- I raced again in July, my swim and bike were great. My run was slow but pain free.
- I raced again in Sept and should have taken 2nd AG but I kept holding myself back for fear that I would tear the hamstring again.
- I raced again in October and took 1st place Masters overall. Granted, it was a tiny race but my performance was head and shoulders above anything I have done before.
Mike is also coaching my wife. Her story is much shorter. In brief, she has very little athletic experience prior to taking up sprint tri 2 years ago. This season, she wins her AG almost every race. She might have gotten 2nd once but every other race is a 1st AG. No, I'm not bitter. Really, I'm not. I'm happy for her ...
Now, the caveat's and downsides. Mike fits my needs and personality so the downsides aren't very important to me.
He is the value leader in coaching, charging a fraction of what many other coaches charge. For that reduced price, he isn't going to call you immediately after every workout to discuss that 3rd interval.
I typically get a message from him once a week with the workout assignments for the next week. He will, on occasion, ask me a question if a key workout did not go well. He did check with me recently when my 3rd interval did not go well and then the workout abruptly ended, but no the dog tied to my waist decided to have a dance party with a squirrel during a high speed interval, then my watch battery died.
If I have a question for him, he generally responds during that one weekly email. However, a couple times I have asked him a more urgent question and he responded the same day.
Overall, I am very happy. My performance had been on a plateau for years and is now steadily improving. My wife went from beginner to dominating local sprints. Both of us are staying healthy and injury free with his coaching.