I've had the same coach since late 2019, in which time I've seen a lot of improvements. He's the only coach I've ever had, and is also the head coach/founder at my local tri club (which I'm heavily involved in). Lately though, I've been feeling dissatisfied with my training plan and I don't know whether it's time to move on.
My main issues are that frequently there doesn't seem to have been a lot of thought go into the plan, and I get the sessions a lot later than I'd like. In the past I'd get around 3 weeks at a time and then if needed he'd adjust the sessions based on my feedback - that worked great. More recently though, it's very piecemeal, a few days at a time and I'll often get to Wednesday or Thursday not know what training I have coming up at the weekend, and on several occasions I've had to message him to prompt him to put sessions in for the upcoming days. It makes it hard to plan other life stuff around it.
When I do get my plan it often feels a bit thrown together - for example a typical week will include club track and swim sessions - which is fine to an extent, I like running and swimming with others, but I just turn up and do whatever the club is doing. For other sessions, the description of the session won't make sense or the power numbers are wrong, and it looks like it's been C&P from someone else's plan. This hasn't always been the case but I've definitely noticed a drop in the quality over the past few months.
All this has lead to me feeling frustrated and considering moving on, either to another coach or more likely just coaching myself at least for now. But - as I said at the top, I'm still seeing improvements so it's obviously working to a certain extent, and I don't know if it's a case of the grass not always being greener. Having never had or left a coach before, I feel like I'm second guessing the best thing to do so would be interested in knowing what caused others to move on, and how it worked out.
If I was with a random online coach and it wasn't working I'd just move on without thinking about it, but because it's someone I've known for years and will continue to see through the tri club, it feels a bit trickier to handle.
My main issues are that frequently there doesn't seem to have been a lot of thought go into the plan, and I get the sessions a lot later than I'd like. In the past I'd get around 3 weeks at a time and then if needed he'd adjust the sessions based on my feedback - that worked great. More recently though, it's very piecemeal, a few days at a time and I'll often get to Wednesday or Thursday not know what training I have coming up at the weekend, and on several occasions I've had to message him to prompt him to put sessions in for the upcoming days. It makes it hard to plan other life stuff around it.
When I do get my plan it often feels a bit thrown together - for example a typical week will include club track and swim sessions - which is fine to an extent, I like running and swimming with others, but I just turn up and do whatever the club is doing. For other sessions, the description of the session won't make sense or the power numbers are wrong, and it looks like it's been C&P from someone else's plan. This hasn't always been the case but I've definitely noticed a drop in the quality over the past few months.
All this has lead to me feeling frustrated and considering moving on, either to another coach or more likely just coaching myself at least for now. But - as I said at the top, I'm still seeing improvements so it's obviously working to a certain extent, and I don't know if it's a case of the grass not always being greener. Having never had or left a coach before, I feel like I'm second guessing the best thing to do so would be interested in knowing what caused others to move on, and how it worked out.
If I was with a random online coach and it wasn't working I'd just move on without thinking about it, but because it's someone I've known for years and will continue to see through the tri club, it feels a bit trickier to handle.