If both are very similar I think communication is the key. Which is the best fit that you think you will be able to communicate with going forward as it takes time for you to understand your coach and them you. Science is all well and good but unless they hear you and you them then you aren't getting the most out of your coach. Access to your coach for this reason is also another big one IMO.

Which one has more experience?
Is their experience all online coaching or do they run workouts on a regular basis where they see their athletes do the workout?
How much access do you have to them?
You’ve mentioned they have had a lot of success with their athletes. Have they had a lot of failures?
If so, why did those athletes not do well?
What is their injury rate with athletes?
Do you know what type of training works best for you? If so, which one more closely aligns with that.

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http://www.magnoliamasters.com
http://www.snappingtortuga.com
http://www.swimeasyspeed.com

communication

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Eric Reid AeroFit | Instagram Portfolio
Aerodynamic Retul Bike Fitting

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Top of my list was to find someone who could actually train with me from time to time. I didn't want a coach beside me on a bike or just remote, I wanted someone who could run me into the ground if needed and could work with me on form and pace accurately on the go. I only run with her once a week or so, but makes a huge difference

I don't know how to get hold of information regarding failed athletes and injured athletes? I guess I could ask them, but the answer probably wouldn't be completely unbiased. Their experience is different, but one definitely has been longer at it than the other one. I don't know that much about communication yet, so do you suggest that I try to mail them a bit more?


I don't have a problem getting my ass whooped in the pool by my swimmer friends or in running by the local running club. In other words, I don't need my coach to do that part :)

what sort of contract do the coaches have? when I picked a coach she had a minimum of 3 month commitment. I figured worse case scenario it didn't work out and I move on within 3 months.

evidence that the coach's athletes have improved over the time of coaching
I'd ask how often that coach's athletes suffer from overuse injuries

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maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

I wanna make sure the coach has coached and/or is currently coaching folks in my age group much faster than me.

I would definitely get more information. Just by asking the question about athletes they haven’t had success with, you’ll get a good idea of how they are as coaches from their response.

I wasn’t getting at a coach seeing you face to face. The question was about how much and the type of experience they have as a coach. If they’ve primarily been just an Internet coach or a “paper” coach, then you might want to renew your search.

Tim

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http://www.magnoliamasters.com
http://www.snappingtortuga.com
http://www.swimeasyspeed.com

How did those 2 wind up on your shortlist over the 12984384 other coaches out there? You must have some kind of criteria that you're using to eliminate other coaches, you need to decide which one best meets your own criteria. It's fairly subjective anyway...

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

Testimonials (which have a telephone number or email address attached)

Free trucker cap and not quitting on me midseason (Pink).

Communication has been mentioned. Particularly, listening. Do they listen to you?
I'd ask how/why they were successful with their best athletes AND how/why they were not successful with others. If they can't tell you what then did wrong/how they changed.....they aren't going to learn/change much.

Do they have the time/energy to think about you as an individual?
How many of their athletes have the same workouts over and over again?
Do they have a "system"? If yes....I'd go another direction.

Did their athletes improve? Or did they just happen to coach people who were already fast?
A lot of past athletes know other pros. They coach them. They have ok results. And people assume the coach is good, when all they did was keep a train running.

Injury history. How many athletes got injured? How? Why? How was the recovery and return to racing?

Good luck.

Brown eyes, tall, athletic, sense of humor, FTP above 4.5 w/kg.

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Inside The Big Ring: Podcast & Coaching

I remember an amazing thread on when a coach fired an athlete for not being marketable enough.

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Inside The Big Ring: Podcast & Coaching

Yes. It was pure awesome sauce.

I think most of these questions can only be answered by the coaches previous (or current) athletes. Is it ok to ask for athlete's contact information to get information about the coach? I would assume it would be pretty hard to get truly honest answers from a coach when it comes to the negatives about their coaching.

Yes, exactly.
You'd want to ask to as many different past athletes as possible.
Usually you can get successful athletes contact info from the coach. Just ask. If they won't do it, that's a red flag.

If they are fairly well known, you can often look up past athletes who had poor results. Find them on Social media and ask.
Most people are up for talking about themselves and what they liked/didn't like about a coach.

I don't have a lot of experience with different coaches since I have only been with one coach but I feel that having a good discussion with a coach is probably the most important. I need as much a person that understands my personality as understands the best way to get the training adaptations required for success. He helps to protect me from myself and do some stupid training things as he does to push me to reach a little farther. I am positive that he would not hesitate to tell an athlete that he doesn't think they would be a good match if that initial discussion seemed to be hard.

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https://www.strava.com/athletes/23685202

it's definitely very subjective. I think you can narrow it down some a little with some of the criteria mentioned by others but in the end I think you only really find out for sure when you start working with them.

I spent a while evaluating myself first. My personality and special needs make me close to uncoachable, which is why I have been self coached until now. In addition, my science background makes me question everything, which might make it even tougher for a coach to work with me.

This made me look for coaches I know have a high success rate and/or a training philosophy I believe in. I also wanted them to be up to speed in terms of science. If you think knowledge in training makes you worse, I probably don't want to work with you. (This also excludes anti vaccine people and healers) Ability to communicate properly was important, so English would be ok, Scandinavian languages even better, whereas all other languages would be a deal breaker for me. Then I wanted someone who knew or knows how it felt/feels like to be ridonculously fit. And I wanted a male coach, which might be controversial, but I think male and female physiology differs substantially and I wanted someone who could relate to my feelings in training/racing.

Eventually I looked for someone I would be comfortable leaving the steer wheel to, without questioning anything until a year had passed. Then the list wasn't all that long. But the final step is tough :)

Just out of curiosity what makes you say you are uncoachable?

I am arrogant and stupid.

An extremely charming combination of defining characteristics that has given me lots of friends over the years, I might add.

I've only been with one coach but it's worked perfectly so I won't be changing any time soon. I definitely feel like coaches have to figure out what motivates and makes their athletes ticks. like you said they need to know their athletes personality and adapt training to each athlete.