1. The planned workouts and suggested volume
Having someone to answer to so I don't skip workouts
2. Nothing

Accountability is a big thing...I've been a coach for 9 years but yet I suck at coaching myself. The reason being when I have someone else design my workouts I do not want to waste that person's time and even more importantly I do not want to waste the money I would be spending. So obviously I am an advocate of having a coach/trainer.

The main thing to determine is how much interaction with a coach you will require. Do you just need someone to design workouts for you? Do you want someone to go out on training rides with you from time to time? Do you expect your coach to respond to questions same day or within a day or two? All of those basic questions are going to dictate the coach's dedication to YOUR training and also play a part in how much you would pay for said services. You should discuss all of that ahead of time so the both of you are on the same page. It will make for a more productive coach/athlete relationship and in the end you will be a happier/faster athlete!

1. The best thing was the feedback....being able to discuss and customize the plan and adapt it on the fly. Having someone on the outside looking in who could advise me when I was being a little bitch and when I should really back off even if I felt like I could keep pushing.

2. Not much...sometimes I felt like the plans I was getting were just generic stuff I could get free elsewhere, but see 1

---

---

sometimes you just have to eat the cake

I only have one level.

People get their training schedule done for them. Down to the minute, not a "45 minute swim" type workout description
Analysis of their workout files on trainingpeaks to identify what needs to be worked on
A schedule that works with your work and family obligations

Race day execution plan that uses what you've learned in the workouts to establish how best to pace yourself, feed and hydrate yourself on race day.

You wouldn't necessarily get the in depth execution plan with other coaches. But you should expect the first three things, not necessarily with trainingpeaks but reviews of your logs.

The value the athletes usually remark about is the accontabilty but also the no longer worrying about it. You don't need to worry if you are doing enough of this, or not enough of that hard or short or long etc. You just look at the schedule and go execute it.

Good luck

as an athlete I found having a coach kept me to my schedule when the rest of my life was hectic. The workout came before happy hour, the night out, or the Saturday sleep in.

Once I learned more about training and realized that my coach was just adding the training peaks prebuilt "virtual coach" workouts to my schedule, I didn't like feeling ripped off.

---

http://www.abbeybiketools.com

i contracted with a web based onlinetricoach.com - a great guy! he gave me weekly running schedules and instructions over email - i went from a 4hr+ open marathon to 3h34 in two months with next to zero previous running experience.

gave me consistency and commitment - that i cannot replicate on my own

---

==================
Ditch the carbage - Go keto!

- Balancing it all. Hired a coach for IM. I was cranking out tons of volume but slotting in the right work at the right time was a struggle.
- Beyond the "basics" of structured workouts. Perhaps the incremental benefit of the structured workouts isn't that great compared to "wash, rinse, repeat" of 2x20s on the bike, and 4 mile tempo runs or 6x800s track workouts, masters swimming, but I like the variety of workouts I'd have never dreamed up myself.
- I know what I need to get done in two week blocks, but if things need reshuffling because of circumstance (work, personal, fatigue, etc), I don't have to go back to the drawing board
- It's still early, but I think in time it will be good to have someone think about the big picture of my development.
- Confidence in the plan.

Only regret is not having done this five years ago.

For myself, I think having a coach is a great thing. For others, it really depends on whether they're willing to pay a pretty significant amount to have someone help them reach their goals. It's not cheap, but each person has to make that decision for themselves.

A coach should provide a lot more than just structured workouts. Coaching also involves nutrition, mental coaching, skills training and race plans. Coaches should also communicate with you enough to get a feel for where you're at mentally and physically to ensure that the training is matched to your ability to train (i.e. work/family stress and other demands will reduce the athletes ability to train optimally).

At the end of the day, as an athlete and soon to be coach, I think coaching helps athletes make the most improvement possible given the time and resources they have available. For an AG athlete, this means making the most of the 8-12 hours they might have available. For an elite, that might mean find ways to get that extra 1-2% that will result in a podium.

Good luck with the decision. I hope the local pro knows his stuff, but realize that a person's athletic ability doesn't mean they know the first thing about training or coaching.

---

-Andrew

I only have one level. It's not basic. I like to call it "triathlon coaching."



A coach with a basic level.

---

-

The Triathlon Squad

Like us on Facebook!!!

Do YOU perceive something is missing in your training and racing, even if you can't identify what it might be? If so, you could probably benefit from the services of a coach.

And really, only you can answer whether that missing element seems to be shored up by working with a coach; or any particular coach.

I'd agree w/Paulo on this one...if you're just thinking you need a basic guide to workouts, save your cash. A few minutes of google will provide any number of canned programs that are sure to be more structured and beneficial. Coaching should be collaborative and iterative, and that works best with a good investment of time (and necessarily money as well).

"basic" was a poor choice of words.

I meant something more like on a fundamental level or as a foundation.

What do you as a coach try to provide at the root of your coaching? mental, and physical gains? race strategy? nutrition? plans that work around life? all of the above?

What do you as a coach try to provide at the root of your coaching? mental, and physical gains? race strategy? nutrition? plans that work around life? all of the above?
__________________________________________

It's all of the above with Paulo--but one caveat, you need to understand the order of operations.

Listen to Kevin in MD and not Paulo.

Don't even waste your time asking Paulo anything that might require an intelligent answer.

Kevin in MD and Paulo are probably saying about the same thing. One more verbose than the other. "Coaching" from a distance can be tricky. Some are 'better' at it than others. Some will just give you a plan. Some will give you a good plan, talk you through your races, etc.

It's not about discounts on clothing or gear or using trainingpeaks or being certified. Coaching should be about results...your results. Picking a coach can be as much about your personality and theirs. I have athletes that I almost never speak to, but email quite a bit. I have other athletes that I put up a schedule for and talk to almost weekly.

Disclaimer, I am a professional triathlete. I coach athletes. Paulo coaches me.

---

Brandon Marsh - Website | @BrandonMarshTX | RokaSports | 1stEndurance | ATC Bikeshop |

Respectfully, what type of coach is Paulo?

I know he must say HTFU a lot.

How else does he encourage/motivate?

Is putting 'respectfully' before a question like saying...with all due respect...and then hammering the person? sarcasm there.

Honestly, he is a good coach. See my remarks about being about results. It doesn't have mean wins, but it needs to mean improvement. He knows what he's talking about. A bit more commentary is that it's my opinion that a lot of the 'best' coaches aren't going to be plugging their brand really anywhere. They are going to do like a lot of the best athletes, and that is just doing their job of getting their athletes to reach their goals. This is my third year to be 'fully' coached. You can see the difference in results...program and personality differences.

He sometimes uses the 'F' word in emails if I do 'F-up' or make a mental slip, which happens. He's not from America, so that might be why some people have a difficult time with his replies. By that I mean (and you can see it on this forum) we (from the US) generally have a tough time with bluntness or directness or no B.S. type comments. It is unfortunate as we generally end up with a culture of softness and passive aggressiveness (rant over). And, we generally want things completely spelled out for us so we don't have to think...on forums and such. He does say things like GTWD or DYJ as well. The workouts are spelled out so that I don't have to think...I just do. I think that I've gotten HTFU once.

The thing is about encouraging or motivating 'most' triathletes is that they don't really need it. Here's how it goes for 'most' age groupers...I might write the following workout:

Run 45 minutes with 10x1'x1' as 1 minute strong, 1 minute easy. This is a "feel good" workout and these are NOT all out efforts. Build throughout so that the last few are your strongest.

The report that I get back says something like...

Yeah, so I got to #7 and couldn't do the last 3 because I went so hard.

So, most triathletes don't need motivation and encouragement. I find myself telling them that life is going to determine how much they can do and stress them as much as the workouts and they don't want to believe it. They think 'more' and 'more' and 'more'. I'm not trying to sell my services, I'm booked. But, it's just some things that I have found.

---

Brandon Marsh - Website | @BrandonMarshTX | RokaSports | 1stEndurance | ATC Bikeshop |

I used respectfully because I wanted the exact answer your gave me, with no sarcasm. Nice answer! One I will reflect on.

You also confirmed something for me that Paulo's anwers reflect a cultural difference, which is not bad. I'll be more understanding.

I also agree that triathletes don't need much motiviation, just a good workout plan that's easy to execute.

Again, thank you for your thoughtful response.

There's a difference between loquacious and intelligent.

---

Steve

http://www.PeaksCoachingGroup.com

You should use the search function. More threads/info then you think, many, not all, with some really, really good info to consider.

---

Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

- what do you strive to provide on a basic level?
to hammer home the point.... "wtf is a basic level?"

- what should someone avoid in a coach or program?
Any program that if you were ever to talk to a fellow athlete of that coach you are getting the same thing and you aren't training for the same thing or are of very different abilities.

Anyone (and perhaps this may apply with elites/professionals who also coach, B fer sure not being included in that grouping) that applies the "it worked for me, it'll work for you" mentality.

---

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

I'm on my 2nd coach in just over a year. My first coach was far to hands off for my liking, some would say my 2nd coach is far to hands on for their liking but she suits me just fine, I saw performance gains under both coaches however I much prefer my 2nd coaches approach to balancing things with my life / fatigue levels.

What I find helpful? I like having someone make decisions for me, my day to day job I make a lot of decisions and plan for all sorts of things, when it comes to my training ask me what I want to achieve then tell me how to get there. I've said several times to my coach, if she tells me to jump off a bridge cause it will make me stronger / fitter / faster then I'll go looking for a bridge to jump off. The other helpful thing is she's from an athletic background and I'm not. I was a fat couch potato for the first 32 years of my life (34 now) so I need direction as to what I should be training as I really have no clue. My first year of this was swim / bike / run 20-30 minutes per day 5 days a week cause that's all I thought there was to it, now I do all sorts of varied workouts.

What do I find unhelpful? Lack of communication, my first coach I'd get a 4 week plan as a PDF, a 2 weekly email and 4 weekly skype session. At no time at all did I ever feel like he was engaged with my goals, I contrast this with the response I got from my present coach when I had to pull out of my A race for the year; I felt at the time she was more down on it than I was. She then pieced together a plan to race a few more times to make use of the fitness I'd built and then formed a plan to train me for AG selection for next year at 2012 along with A races, B races and also a fun race or 2 thrown in. I'm currently in the middle of my base build (it's winter here) and I have to say with her guidance I'm not tired / sick / over stressed and I can also see by my power numbers that I'm getting faster / stronger. The fact that she uses training peaks and sets me power / HR / Cadence based workouts and can provide me daily (sometimes within an hour) on how I've done relevant vs her expectations. She can make these evaluations as I have a Garmin and the data gets uploaded straight to TP which she can see, my first coach wasn't interested in all at reviewing my training logs / workout information.


All in all, for a newb like me, an engaged coach who I can trust is money well spent.

---

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Chicks are like Voltron, the more you can get, the better it is." -Tucker

I'm a fat, slow AG'er, but even I know that's not why some people have a difficult time with his replies. Personally, I think they are hilarious, but come on.

I agree.

---

-

The Triathlon Squad

Like us on Facebook!!!