Among the best lines on SlowTwitch this year!

Couldn't have said it better myself.
Getting paid to coach is a bonus. I think that every time I deposit a check.

Elliot

In case this horse isn't completely dead.....

EN is clearly not for everyone. I joined EN three years ago, primarily due to the focus on ROI as I have a young family (3 kids under 8) and a pretty demanding job in Corporate M&A that involves 70 hour weeks and travel with limited notice. As such, I didn't feel a coach costing hundreds of dollars a month was justified given this is a hobby that takes a back seat to many other things in my life and many of the coaches I talked to insisted were pretty anchored to the 16-20 hour training plans that were not an option for me.

Because of my other priorities, I have always trained on my own which isn't ideal, but my only viable option. I know this is a big deal for many others, including many of my friends in the sport. If you are motivated by the social and/or competitive nature of group training you may not get as much out of EN.

Before EN I had never swam in a lap pool, I was a quasi-competitive cyclist in college (club team, Cat 4/5), and had been a recreational runner. In 3 years I have completed 3 7HIMs (5:55 down to 4:47) and one IM 10:06 (with another planned this year) . I did the IM on a max of about 12 hours a week, and the HIM on 8-9. This is frankly the most I could commit without sacrificing things in my personal/work lives. I believe without a doubt EN has allowed me to squeeze every ounce of benefit from this training. Could I do more or perform better...sure, but only with more time commitment which at this time is not an option.

Sure...some of the things you see in the public EN materials are written to bring folks in from a marketing standpoint, but once you get into the specifics you see there is a method to the madness and it's all built around the principle of maximizing the output of whatever you are able to put in. I think this is evidenced by the fact that they have a broad array of athletes, from first timers looking to get in under the 17hr limit to AG podium finishers with multiple KQs.

"Good on Patrick and Rich for formalizing and packing up some of the common sense secrets that many of us had to toil through trial and error to discover. "

Boom.

And hence, the success and popularity of their thoughtful model.

I learned a lot from Rich at one of ENs FREE IM training camps at IM Wisconsin.

The biggest lesson, which TheGreyFox and others could learn from, is that Race Execution trumps Fitness. That is the point of their coaching: get fit but run the right race on race day. Many RRs posted here are tales of poor race execution and not a lack of fitness.

Even the Pros mess this up on race day so its a good lesson for all.

What a thread? So much confusion.

Part of the issue is that so many want this to be a cut and dry thing - do X program and get Y result. They want endurance sports training to be all this or all that, to fit some preconceived notion that it has to be all this way or that way. That's not the way it works.

This is not meant to be a knock on EN, there is a good deal, of what they espouse that makes a lot of sense, but it's not the whole story. It's like saying all LSD all the time is the right approach - not. Doesn't work that way. IT ALL MATTERS. Every bit of training you do. Every minute and hour you spend out there on the road, and in the water matters. It all contributes.

That's why I say, worry less about the exact program and details ( watts, beats, meters, numbers . .whatever), and worry more about embracing the training, enjoying it and getting at it. In the early years in particular ( yes I said years, because it takes years to build up the volume), this is true. Just get out there and put the time in.

I talked recently to a guy who had recently left triathlon. Was wondering what to do. I said, "just ride, you like riding right?" He said, "Yes, but I don't know what to do. What do you do?". I said, "I just ride. If I have an hour . . I ride for an hour, and I'll let you in on a little secret, that's more or less how I trained when I was training for triathlon 'seriously'", and it lead to a modest amount of success. He seemed dumb-founded by this revelation!

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

If a "coach" is dictating how it's gonna be, and not work around your schedule - that's not even close to coaching.

Tell that to most coaches! I would say 99% of coaches say "my way or the highway!" And that is good coaches OR bad coaches. When John Wooden (probably the best coach EVER) told Walton or Kareem to jump they said "how high",lol! The problem is a lot of coaches think training is a death march! As I have said training is all about SWAGGER!

Yeah, this. Not to knock "serious" training but if you don't love an hour on the bike, something's wrong with you. Races coming up or not.

-Eric

Yep, Riley is a playa' and PR gold at races.



Sorry, no pics of the wife. I'm dumb but not crazy.

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Rich Strauss
Endurance Nation Ironman 2013 and 2014 World Champion TriClub, Div I
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Thanks for the props. We are always want our athletes to be as proud of us as we are of them.

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Rich Strauss
Endurance Nation Ironman 2013 and 2014 World Champion TriClub, Div I
Create a FREE 7-day trial membership

You're 100% correct.

I'm sure that you have made an honest assessment of your strengths, weaknesses, desired lifestyle, requirements for a secure future and have structured your coaching business around that -- services offered, how they are delivered, number of athletes you're comfortable working with and what to charge. Within that box you work hard to deliver value and results to your athletes.

By all accounts, you are succeeding in spades. Congratulations!

The box within which I operate was constructed in the same manner, after a similar assessment, and is a reflection of my version of that ^stuff^ above.

You have your box, I have my box, and we both work very hard to make it the best, most awesomest box we can.

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Rich Strauss
Endurance Nation Ironman 2013 and 2014 World Champion TriClub, Div I
Create a FREE 7-day trial membership

Need a like button for this!

you have to think of wooden as a youth coach. he was working with 18-21 year olds. at that point, and particularly, in that sport, it's a "i say, you do" environment. They are still youth. Same goes for youth swimming, and youth anything else. It's "I say, you do." There is a certain lack of intrinsic motivation by talented young individuals who also lack the experience and breadth of view to understand how training/practice then results in performance.

Fast forward to a 30 - 45 year old with a back ground in sport. They have begun to understand how A+B=C and thus the input of their perspective is valuable. This goes for age groupers and professionals. Endurance athletics and team sports. See how a coach in a team sport will rely on the insight of a veteran to optimize their plan. Likewise here.

I find that with my most experienced folk there is a fair bit of chatter back and forth about implementation. With the less experienced folk they largely are doing what I say because they know no better, does not mean i'm a forcing it upon them.

We're all adults here. Your own free will should be a part of any plan.

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36 kona qualifiers 2006-'23 - 3 Kona Podiums - 4 OA IM AG wins - 5 IM AG wins - 18 70.3 AG wins
I ka nana no a 'ike -- by observing, one learns | Kulia i ka nu'u -- strive for excellence
Garmin Glycogen Use App | Garmin Fat Use App

You make a vastly incorrect assumption. I do not have a coaching business.

Are you a coach or are you a businessman? Because if your pursuit is on making money, then you are not a coach.

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36 kona qualifiers 2006-'23 - 3 Kona Podiums - 4 OA IM AG wins - 5 IM AG wins - 18 70.3 AG wins
I ka nana no a 'ike -- by observing, one learns | Kulia i ka nu'u -- strive for excellence
Garmin Glycogen Use App | Garmin Fat Use App

If you aren't running a business, you are running a charity.
Are you running a charity?

Anything worth doing, is worth doing for $.

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float , hammer , and jog

that's reductionist

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36 kona qualifiers 2006-'23 - 3 Kona Podiums - 4 OA IM AG wins - 5 IM AG wins - 18 70.3 AG wins
I ka nana no a 'ike -- by observing, one learns | Kulia i ka nu'u -- strive for excellence
Garmin Glycogen Use App | Garmin Fat Use App

Agreed. But it doesn't make it any less true.

If you cannot make a living wage (the definition of this may be different, for different people) doing what you do, you can't keep on doing it.

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float , hammer , and jog

by reducing the statement you in effect blur reality

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36 kona qualifiers 2006-'23 - 3 Kona Podiums - 4 OA IM AG wins - 5 IM AG wins - 18 70.3 AG wins
I ka nana no a 'ike -- by observing, one learns | Kulia i ka nu'u -- strive for excellence
Garmin Glycogen Use App | Garmin Fat Use App

Please un-blur me.

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float , hammer , and jog

What are you more focused on.... making money or making people fast. A business focuses on revenue streams, ROI, $ per athlete metrics, and more avenues with which to make coin. A coach doesn't care about any of that. Their only concern is that their athletes get faster.

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36 kona qualifiers 2006-'23 - 3 Kona Podiums - 4 OA IM AG wins - 5 IM AG wins - 18 70.3 AG wins
I ka nana no a 'ike -- by observing, one learns | Kulia i ka nu'u -- strive for excellence
Garmin Glycogen Use App | Garmin Fat Use App

You seem to think these are somehow mutually exclusive. That's a fallacy.
It's like the "train more" vs "more aero" arguments - why not do both, if you can?

Besides, you can't keep making people fast, if you can't pay your bills - most dumpsters don't have wi-fi.

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float , hammer , and jog

This whole "I am a real coach and don't care about money and only care about make people faster" is nothing but a bs marketing gimmick that guys like MV use here on ST to try to drum up more business. If there is actually a coach that cares so little about running a successful business as that then I have zero faith in their ability or commitment to quality coaching. Excellence in both areas go hand in hand.

Wow, talk about trolling.

Your equivocation that one must be good at running a business to be a good coach is laughable and clearly demonstrates you have no idea what you are talking about. There are folks with athletes in the top 5 at kona that suck at every aspect of business ...but nothing seems to be going wrong with the results...

As it has been put to me....

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36 kona qualifiers 2006-'23 - 3 Kona Podiums - 4 OA IM AG wins - 5 IM AG wins - 18 70.3 AG wins
I ka nana no a 'ike -- by observing, one learns | Kulia i ka nu'u -- strive for excellence
Garmin Glycogen Use App | Garmin Fat Use App

if you make people fast.... the $ takes care of itself.

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36 kona qualifiers 2006-'23 - 3 Kona Podiums - 4 OA IM AG wins - 5 IM AG wins - 18 70.3 AG wins
I ka nana no a 'ike -- by observing, one learns | Kulia i ka nu'u -- strive for excellence
Garmin Glycogen Use App | Garmin Fat Use App