A Coach...Pros and Cons

Triathlon Forum
1

So at my current age of 22 and having 0 other commitments to swallow up my time (aside from a real job starting in September) I feel that I am in a good position to make a real good attempt at this triathlon business.

However, one thing I hate is wasting time and considering comments made by the legendary (cave)man Conrad Stoltz (“Not training with a coach earlier. The first 7 years of my pro career I was either overtrained, or injured, or both. A sad waste of talent and time.”) it would seem that a coach could be a consideration.

I am an engineer so I am by nature very analytical about things and one of my main issues would be what can I gain from a coach that I cannot gain from scouring Friel or some other sources?

As ever your comments and suggestions would be very welcome.

2

As usual there are different opinons and options for everyone.You cited a Conrad Stoltz quote and that is very interesting but then lets look at the great Brad Beven from Australia who was self coached and won more ITU races in his day than anyone.He won the ITU world Series five times, the F1 grand Prix series in Oz five times and the pro tour series once.Mulitple podium places in Worlds and one Commonwealth Games silver(demonstration sport).

Not everything is black and white.Having said that,given the way the sport is evolving these days it would seem that your best bet is to find a quality squad with a coach attached.It would give you best bang for your buck and your squad members would give you the kick in the ass when you need it( which would be every day).

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3

“A Coach…Pros and Cons”

I would never hire a Con for a coach, really hard for those weekly calls and NO face time at all!! I just started with a coach that is Pro, so far I recommend it.

All joking aside, a good coach is a very good way to learn what areas you need help in and give you schedules that will improve those areas. For instance, swimming, if you’re in good shape athletically, but just aren’t fast or can’t last too long in the pool, a good coach will give you a schedule that will work on drills to improve speed and a lot of yards to improve endurance.

A good coach can take a look at your race schedule and prep you for your race, especially “A” races.

A good coach can take a look at your form for SBR and give you drills to improve.

A good coach can make nutritional suggestions for training, racing, and everyday meals.

Most importantly, a good coach can talk you off the ledge when you freak out over a bad training day/week, a bad race, pre-race nerves, etc…

I like to be coached mostly because I know how to write a training schedule, but then I can’t hold myself accountable for doing it, With a good coach, I feel I need to perform exactly as written in my schedule.

4

I can’t imagine what a con of having a good coach could possibly be.

5

I agree,if you can find a good coach.

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6

You mean you’re going to be an engineer. I think you have to get your first paycheck before you call yourself one.

Seeing as you’re not working wouldn’t paying for a coach be a con?

7

I can’t imagine what a con of having a good coach could possibly be.

Money.

Not too many 22 year olds starting a real job for the first time in a few months can afford a good coach. Sometimes that money is better served somewhere else or should be dedicated to somewhere else like loans, bills, savings for future, etc. Not saying that this is true for this particular case but generally speaking.

It’s kind of like people going out and buying a $3k bike when they are in credit card debts. Can they do it? Sure. Should they? smart money says no.

8

I can’t imagine what a con of having a good coach could possibly be.

Money.

Not too many 22 year olds starting a real job for the first time in a few months can afford a good coach. Sometimes that money is better served somewhere else or should be dedicated to somewhere else like loans, bills, savings for future, etc. Not saying that this is true for this particular case but generally speaking.

It’s kind of like people going out and buying a $3k bike when they are in credit card debts. Can they do it? Sure. Should they? smart money says no.

Exactly. Well ignoring where else my cash is going and focusing on tri, I feel there is no point spending my free cash on some flash gear when in reality it would be better spent elsewhere to get me faster. But could I invest time into research as just as easily self-coach? equally where I will be working I doubt there are many (if any) reputable tri coaches…but I might be wrong.

9

being coached is about being coachable.

as an engineer, this could be tough, as already noted by you beleiving there is little to gain because you can figure it out by reading the coaching bible. (IMO, a good bike, and a fine way to go)

coachable to me is doing pretty much whatever your coach says, nothing more, nothing less…ask questions later…at the finish line.

IMO, as long as you hire someone who is decent to good (do a little due dilligence), and listen to them 100%, there are few cons. Follow a decent plan 100% of the time will yield much better results than following the best plan 80% of the time.

The biggest con to hiring a coach is hiring the coach than adding/changing/substracting out of the scheudle. going above and below what is necessary…over analyzing everything, questioning everything…

Hiring a coach, than reading a book and saying, “But Friel says this…”

don’t get me wrong, I think it’s important to question, but not with the intent of finding a better way, but with the intent of understanding the purpose of the session your coach has designed, so you know what you are supposed to be doing.

Basically, when you hire a coach, you need to let go of your desire to pull out your slide ruler…

Here is a great article on being coachable about Dara Torres…

http://triswimcoachonline.com/tri/are-you-coachable-lessons-from-dara-torres/

Determine if you are coachable…, if you are not, it is probably going to be a waste of money…

10

Seeing as you’re not working wouldn’t paying for a coach be a con?

I’d agree with that statement, Triathlon is already an expensive sport as it is, even more so when you tack a coach on as well.

Now to the OP, cost aside, you never mentioned what your goals are? You want to give this a serious go, but a serious go at what? Podium at local races? Clearwater? Kona? Harboring ambitions of going Pro? How much experience do you have that would support those goals? You don’t have to literally answer that question, not to me at least, as long as you know the answer. E.g. raw natural talent is usually pretty apparent early on, personally I know I could develop into a decent AG’r, maybe a qualifier one day, but I’m never going to be a Pro and I’m OK with that.

FWIW, I am an Engineer. For a while I was balancing full time work, grad school at night and Triathlon to decent but not spectacular results. Post grad my schedule has opened up enough to allow me to set loftier goals. By my nature, I am not satisfied with simply having someone tell me what to do without understanding why I am doing it. I’m a total scientific training geek, power meter, pace, I read the literature, analyze my results, love to dork out and get giddy anytime I can converse with Dr Coggan or Dr Skiba in various forums. At the same time, I recognize that there are people who been doing this a whole lot longer than I have and know a whole lot better than I do. I’m certainly not averse to having a coach but in an ideal world I want a coach that I can grow and learn with rather than just bang out workouts like a drone. For these reasons and others I felt the best approach for me was the hybrid-mix of guidance and structure from a coach without having everything completely spoon fed to me. So far, Endurance Nation as been great to me for that, the coaches are there when I need them, they answer my questions, they provide me with workouts and advice, but they also provide me with the support and materials for me to make my own decisions.

EN is not the be all end all best solution for everyone, like everything it has it’s pros and cons, I certainly wouldn’t argue that I get the same day to day attention as I would from a more expensive premium coaching service, but for me, it works. Or perhaps I should say work works.

11

X100

I’m on the verge of uncoachable. I’m trying very hard to let go and have “faith”.

I do believe someone can learn to be coachable. However, coming from an Engineering or mathematical background, it might be harder not to analyze your own data and make changes on the fly.

12

I am an engineer so I am by nature very analytical about things and one of my main issues would be what can I gain from a coach that I cannot gain from scouring Friel or some other sources?

If you hire a coach who regurgitates Friel, you have little to gain. If you hire a coach who analytically analyzes your training and holds you accountable for completing what he prescribes, you could have a lot to gain: knowledge that you don’t have, a more objective analysis of your training/fatigue/expected performances, and accountability to train when you don’t want to.

13

being coached is about being coachable.

coachable to me is doing pretty much whatever your coach says, nothing more, nothing less…ask questions later…at the finish line.

Yeah, that’s not me …

Saturday

Rand: I ran 7 miles, when I was supposed to take the day off
Coach: What’dya do that for?
R: It was nice out
C: Oh, okay. Take tommorrow off then
R: I’ll try

Sunday

R: I ran 8 instead of 6
C: You ran 7 yesterday, no?
R: Yep
C: Are you trying to hurt yourself? LOL
R: No, I don’t think so
C: How do you feel?
R: Pretty good
C: How’s the hamstring?
R: Yeah, I think I figured that out! It’s from the way I was stretching while hanging laundry on the line. I made some adjustments, and it’s fine.
C: You got a step-ladder? LOL You going to take tomorrow off?
R: I’ll try
C: ~sigh~

14

well, if you can find one that you afford, i think it’s a great move on your part. i’ll just assume that you find someone you like, knows what they are doing and that is actually going to pay attention to your goals, how your feeling each week, etc.

i hired a coach in March of 2009. i PR’d every race that year. i trained a lot more than i normally would have. i also trained harder (more intensity in the few months leading up to my A race). the main thing for me if feeling accountable. i didn’t want to catch shit if i missed a workout or did something stupid…so i stayed on the program.

i have an injury this year and can’t run…but i decided to keep him. we’ve changed the focus of my training and racing due to my feet and it’s been helpful. he’s been through an injury as well so he checks in to make sure my mental side is good too.

since you’re really getting started with life at this point (starting career, etc), a coach will provide some good structure for you as well. not suggesting you need it, but you will no doubt work with people that much older and have developed some very poor life habits. it can be easy to fall into those yourself. the coach will help you stay on point.

good luck. if you’re in socal, i’m happy to recommend my coach if you want.

15

“…being coached is about being coachable…”

Absolutely!!! I’ve tried on many occassions to work with a coach and usually after about 2 weeks of strict programmed workouts, I start to stray. You definitely have to assess your goals…especially long term vs. short term. I’m in my 20th season of racing tri’s; 99% self-coached, I’ve never been injured, I always enjoy my workouts, but then again, I’ve never won a race either…

16

you went to school for four (ish) years to be an engineer, A good coach did the same thing but for coaching.
Its the same as any other profession, there are good coaches and bad. A good one is highly educated and experienced. You can not get the same knowledge from reading a couple of books (mostly written by coaches that recommend hiring a coach).
Do you research and find someone that works for you. There are a number of options that fit a variety of budgets. Personally I get (and offer) completely personal coaching for less than many online “coaching” programs.
I am a coach so I am bias on this issue, and this is just my opinion.

17

Pros: Structured workouts, goal focused and standardized based on you and your current performance and ability.

Cons: Expense. And having to listen to someone.

Find out what a better performance is worth to you and then shop around to see if you can find a decent experienced coach at that price. Often as a trainer/coach I have lots of people approach me who want to get training but then when the price comes up for 6-9 months worth of programming and guidance they balk. You can’t guide someone to a result in a short period of time, so you need to expect to make a commitment to any serious coach.

My suggestion for people your age who aren’t able to make the financial investment is often to find a local tri club or university team who will let them come to workouts and join those. Or, piece together a tri group by joining a good masters’ swim group and a track club, plus hit the local long group rides every weekend.