I have one, and am just starting my third season with her. Personally, I find it worthwhile as: 1) I don't have to think, just read what is on Training Peaks and do the work; and 2) I know that she is watching what I'm doing so it increases the motivation not to skip sessions.

The main negative is that I don't have any direct personal coaching, so if I need for example swim technique coaching then I would need to find that myself. Personally, given my time limitations, I'm happy with that trade off, as joining a local club would result in me doing significantly less hours per week of actual training.

With regards injury prevention, I'm not sure.... Having moved from rowing to triathlon around 4 years ago, I seem to be quite robust coping with on average 14hrs per week. I would guess the most important point is finding a coach you can trust and who you can talk to when you need advice.

For what it's worth, I'm using Lisbeth Kristensen, one of the Trisutto coaches.

It depends on the coach you get. My first coach was online and due to my inexperience I didn't realise at the time what little investment he must have been giving to me. Alas coach three I randomly met an ex pro my mate recognised in Honolulu with him just being on holidays there. I live in Australia, he is in Europe and send him every training sessions data. He analyses it and sends me the next days session. I enjoy being accountable each day and giving him feedback. I guess it all revolves around who you find. I think a lot just had out very generic programs and don't give you the attention you hope for or just don't have the knowledge so I guess it is the luck of the draw.

When I used Mike Plumb a few years ago, he gave me workouts that were challenging but doable. I sent him my data every week so he could see what I was doing and I felt I had to do every workout to be accountable for his guidance.

Because of the accountability I felt, I did well with his coaching.

I found it helpful in my journey. I’ve been through 3, but the third coach helped me through 2 Ironmans and I’m a pain in the butt to coach. You’ll learn a lot and the accountability is great. I’m fact, I enjoyed it so much that I’m actually getting into coaching... sitting in the hotel waiting for my level 1 cert class to begin as I type this.

Oddly enough, the worst coach I had was local to me. I thought it would be convenient to have someone nearby to help with questions but it was actually the opposite. I would be sure to talk to a few different coaches, ask for references, etc. It’s important to find someone that you can connect with and someone who can communicate in a way you will understand. I’m getting ready to walk into a meeting but if you PM me I’ll look up the email addresses of the two coaches that I liked and pass them along later this evening.

my first few years in triathlon I was self-coached. just grabbing free beginner/intermediate plans online. then I started using trainnerroad which is good but I was just inexperienced enough to not recognize my fatigue level was too much and hit a wall a few weeks before one of my big races. The next year I wanted to do an IM so after hitting that wall, decided I needed a coach to train me for IM. The coach I picked happened to be local but it wasn't something where I needed to meet her face to face. She would give me my weekly plan in trainingpeaks and I would go off of that. During that time training with her, I was the fittest AND healthiest I've ever been. She definitely prioritized staying healthy both mentally and physically. There was definitely a lot of communication discussing how I was feeling physically and mentally and dialing things back for a bit if I was getting too run down. It was some of the best money I've ever spent.

I think it's very subjective. For some people it works and for others not so much.

For me, it worked very well. I would update my Training Peaks with data after each workout, usually put some comments on how it felt etc. as well. On Sunday I would email him with my overall impression for the week and my training availability for the next week (my schedule was all over the place so it varied widely). We had a slower start as we found the best way to accommodate my schedule which ended up being me picking and choosing workouts at times but they would all get done during the week.

People post on here that they're just getting into racing and want to spend $1k to improve their bike. My advice is always the same: get a coach. Even just for a year, online only. My 2 cents.

Getting coached is beneficial. Your race performance improves as does your preparation activities. Hence less injuries. An on-line or in-person should provide guidance in how to best utilize the pressures and stresses you feel as an athlete. With a coach, every day is an opportunity to learn. And, ignoring coaching is usually harder than learning from it. Between video, phone, and in-person communication; there is little difference in coaching outcomes to the athletes. Communication is key. The more you learn and apply, then the better performance outcomes you’ll earn.
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I am going to be getting a coach. An online one can work for me, though local would be nice, as I have enough experience now to understand a lot of the workout structures. My time of availability is also such that getting together with a coach (even if they do off-road stuff) will be extremely challenging. With texting, skype, etc you can reach someone easily anymore.

If you are new to all of this, a local coach (and/or group) might be the better option. Hands on is almost always better.

I am interested in the answers to your question, but can you clarify what you mean by "online coach"? Do you mean full service, one-on-one type coaching from a coach located outside of your area? By that definition, the vast majority of coaches are "online coaches". When I read "online coach" I was thinking of the lower budget options where they write your workouts but you don't have the high level of communication/interaction/individual attention. For some coaches they sell that as lower tier service while other coaches only offer that type of coaching.

Just think a little clarification would make the feedback more meaningful.

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"It's good enough for who it's for" - Grandpa Wayne

I used an online coach twice, both for seasons i did an ironman, including this year when i used Andy Potts racing. I didnt use full 1:1 coaching, but a custom plan, from beginning to end. i gave them my race schedule, goals and family obligations and they worked around it. when my job situation changed requiring a very long commute, they changed it. i didnt get much in the way of feedback. dont think they were monitoring me at all. the coaches were responsive on their facebook page and they gave me enough resources in how to adjust things as needed. if i had a busy work week, or my sons had a baseball game or cub scouts, even gave me recovery workouts for after my hockey league which i was in early in training. when i was on vacation, i got running workouts. also gave me some race prep ideas and a shit ton of great discounts from their sponsors.

at the end of the day, you get what you pay for. would i have benefitted more from a 1:1 coach? yes, would have been more helpful in navigating my day. i definitely didnt have one face to face.. yeah i could use help with my running form and swimming form. but theres no way that would happen. full time job which takes 2 horus each way to get to /from, family time, etc. no way i could meet a coach anywhere on MY terms. but im also an amateur, a slow one. my last ironman was 15:51, i got to 15:02, which included some injury time. i was hoping for sub 14:00 early on but the bike injury (cramps and spasms) slowed me down quite a bit, stopped for 20 minutes on the bike and certainly slowed my run a bit. i'm fine with the results becuase it doesnt change anything for me. but if somebody had been watching my bike efforts maybe they'd tell me to adjust differently.

Get one you see and can do sessions with. They will pick up things your online coach won’t.

If form. Or if you are tired.

If you go online just buy a generic program from somewhere like TrainingPeaks

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By online coach I mean a coach that I do not need to meet face to face with all the time. I live in a big city so I could probably find a local coach but am open to using one outside my city or country.

After reading all the responses (which have been very very helpful so thank you all!!!) I think what I’d like to find is a coach who I can provide my data, schedule and feels to so that they can help me tailor my training, and also advise on how I can improve my performance holistically so that would include nutrition, rest, etc.

I’ve got a tendency to push past my niggles and injuries which then stops me from getting to the start line when it blows up ... I love love racing but am over being constantly injured so I’m hoping that coaching will help me.

I’ve had person to person coaching for swimming but I’ve found that’s not the most effective way for me to learn ... so online coaching will be something completely new which I’m willing to try.

Stealing the OP, I'm planning to train myself next season.

I've being on the past two seasons with a local club (I live overseas fwiw), but our coach doesnt know nothing about power meters, WKO, PMC and the hole metrics, and as far as today, is more focused on expand the club then acquire knowledge. He dosent speak english, so almost all study material avaiable are out of reach. Many times I had to manage (tsb, rest) the train myself studying my WKO. When you have a small group going for the same race, he can make an OK 4 month schedulle, but Its not a individual to individual thing. More like a plan. I ran a 4:52 HIM on my second try with a 35' swim, and I think I have a lot to improve, but I think I have to move on and do better for myself.

So for clarification. This type of coach i described, even tought he sees me every tuesday/thursday during brick sessions, are not what you guys call a "coach", right?