so, the guidance is to get a coach?
Not even close to what Eric said.
The OP said macro planning was more simple than day in day out planning.
How are you going to have a day in day out plan if you’ve not planned what you need to do & when you need to do it?
That’s what Eric was saying as I understood it
How active of a participant are you in your current coaching plan?
Do you understand why the coach is giving you what they are? Do you ask and discuss going into training blocks (and coming out) what was the motivation / and what worked what didnt?
I know some coaches like the “jump” / “how high” model. But many are happy to have these discussions .
This year I started using a program called TriDot and have really enjoyed it. It’s an online platform that gives you a workout calendar that will make adjustments for you based on how you are doing in the workouts. They have subscriptions from $9.99 all the way to $200+ based on what you want. Obviously if you pay more you get more attention from their actual coaches. But I’ve found the $30 platform to be plenty sufficient and many of my training friends are happy on the $9.99 level.
I tried it out because I just can’t justify the price of a coach as an amateur triathlete. But I was exactly like you, looking for just a little guidance while I mostly took care of it myself. 8 months in and my swim endurance is up, FTP is up, and run paces are up. You can check it out at Tridot.com
so, the guidance is to get a coach?
Not even close to what Eric said.
The OP said macro planning was more simple than day in day out planning.
How are you going to have a day in day out plan if you’ve not planned what you need to do & when you need to do it?
That’s what Eric was saying as I understood it
I’m not really sure how you got that from Eric’s comment, which was (paraphrased) that the OP isn’t ready to coach himself.
so, the guidance is to get a coach?
Not even close to what Eric said.
The OP said macro planning was more simple than day in day out planning.
How are you going to have a day in day out plan if you’ve not planned what you need to do & when you need to do it?
That’s what Eric was saying as I understood it
I’m not really sure how you got that from Eric’s comment, which was (paraphrased) that the OP isn’t ready to coach himself.
Brian is exactly right, and so am I. The OP doesn’t know what he doesn’t know. Because he thinks that workouts are hard and macro is easy, which is the opposite of reality, he’s not ready. So, as coaches, instead of answering the question he asked, we’re answering the question he needs answered. Brian’s being more direct, while I’m actually using the Socratic method, which some people take offense to…
The dirty truth is that coaching is 90% getting people out of their own way… the workouts are the easy part. Brian is right to suggest Gordo’s stuff to the OP. Or in Brian’s terms, the ingredients are easy if you know what cake you’re building, how many people you’re serving, how hot the oven needs to be, and how long it needs to bake.
I’m not really sure how you got that from Eric’s comment, which was (paraphrased) that the OP isn’t ready to coach himself.
Rather easily in fact. The OP said macro planning was simple and Eric said maybe you’re not ready to coach yourself. To me that implied that until the OP understands how to plan out how to get where he wants to go he’s going to struggle to get there.
In 20+ yrs of coaching there have been a few consistent things athletes coming to me have had working against them. Most have an idea where they want to go but no idea how to get there.
For example two of the things I wanted to do this year was win the inaugural FS Series Crystal Booty half IM in my home state & contend for the win in my AG at Victoria 70.3 for several reasons for both. When the FS race was announced I sat down and determined what I needed to do in order to get there and get to my goal of trying to win my AG at Vic 70.3. When I needed to dump on huge week(s) of bike volume intervals, when I needed to do/start intervals running, etc. (Won the race overall & then my AG @ the 70.3, 4 points for planning!)
It’s easy to say I want to do X and/or Y, and triathletes ime have no trouble doing this. The overwhelming majority will fail in the planning of how to go from I want to do X and/or Y to actually planning this out. That’s what Eric was pointing out, that the OP was not grasping that planning is > half the battle and that the day in day out workouts are < half the battle.
I’m not really sure how you got that from Eric’s comment, which was (paraphrased) that the OP isn’t ready to coach himself.
Rather easily in fact. The OP said macro planning was simple and Eric said maybe you’re not ready to coach yourself. To me that implied that until the OP understands how to plan out how to get where he wants to go he’s going to struggle to get there.
In 20+ yrs of coaching there have been a few consistent things athletes coming to me have had working against them. Most have an idea where they want to go but no idea how to get there.
For example one of the things I wanted to do this year was win the inaugural FS Series Crystal Booty half IM in my home state for several reasons. When it was announced I sat down and determined what I needed to do in order to get there. When I needed to dump on huge week(s) of bike volume intervals, when I needed to do/start intervals running, etc.
It’s easy to say I want to do X and/or Y, and triathletes ime have no trouble doing this. The overwhelming majority will fail in the planning of how to go from I want to do X and/or Y to actually planning this out. That’s what Eric was pointing out, that the OP was not grasping that planning is > half the battle and that the day in day out workouts are < half the battle.
Looks like I played right into your hands at that race… 
I’m not really sure how you got that from Eric’s comment, which was (paraphrased) that the OP isn’t ready to coach himself.
Rather easily in fact. The OP said macro planning was simple and Eric said maybe you’re not ready to coach yourself. To me that implied that until the OP understands how to plan out how to get where he wants to go he’s going to struggle to get there.
In 20+ yrs of coaching there have been a few consistent things athletes coming to me have had working against them. Most have an idea where they want to go but no idea how to get there.
For example two of the things I wanted to do this year was win the inaugural FS Series Crystal Booty half IM in my home state & contend for the win in my AG at Victoria 70.3 for several reasons for both. When the FS race was announced I sat down and determined what I needed to do in order to get there and get to my goal of trying to win my AG at Vic 70.3. When I needed to dump on huge week(s) of bike volume intervals, when I needed to do/start intervals running, etc. (Won the race overall & then my AG @ the 70.3, 4 points for planning!)
It’s easy to say I want to do X and/or Y, and triathletes ime have no trouble doing this. The overwhelming majority will fail in the planning of how to go from I want to do X and/or Y to actually planning this out. That’s what Eric was pointing out, that the OP was not grasping that planning is > half the battle and that the day in day out workouts are < half the battle.
I don’t disagree with anything you say, you’re spot on. However, the most obvious implication of his post to me was that since the Op wasn’t ready to coach himself, he needed a coach. That you came away with something different indicated that the post lacks clarity as to the next steps and is therefore unhelpful.
So I’m right and you’re wrong.
:-p
Looks like I played right into your hands at that race…
hahaha!
Add to your list: Triathlon 2.0 by Jim Vance
.
Yeah I was going to say the complete opposite; I can write my own workouts all day long, but putting those together in a smart, planned manner over the course of a season is what I would look for a coach to do if I ever got one.
Yeah I was going to say the complete opposite; I can write my own workouts all day long, but putting those together in a smart, planned manner over the course of a season is what I would look for a coach to do if I ever got one.
Exactly why I need a coach.
And all this talk of cake makes me want cake. Perhaps a nutritionist is in order too