I’ve recently enjoyed a casual coaching setup where I get weekly e-mails during my mid-winter nordic season and then in the spring-summer multisport season. He is a national level nordic ski coach and has brought my endurance racing to a new level. Although he is not a “tri coach”, I feel the periodization help I receive is top notch. He also runs two dryland camps at the local college during the summer and fall as well as an on-snow camp in early winter that I pay for and attend. He’s the head coach of an organization that develops younger skiers that have just missed making the national or Olympic teams and churns out some incredible athletes. They want to have a VIP program that costs $1000 a year. It’s for 10-12 masters athletes(nationally) like me who want to support the program. I’d get about the same amount of feedback as I do now but I have been paying about $500 a year in the form of an occasional $75 donation. Obviously the coaching relationship has value but I’m wondering what you guys get for your $'s ???
if you do a search of tri coaching websites you’ll see that costs range from $75-$500 per month.
Way too much money…
…and I am self-coached!
Seriously, around here (Bay Area) you don’t get a “live” coach (who watches you train, as opposed to a remote coach providing a training program) for less than $100 / month. Seems to me like your $ 500 / year is a great deal!
I have a very good coach and I don’t pay him nearly that much. Some coaches just love to coach and aren’t out to make money - these are the ones you should look for.
Hate to disagree Freestyle but while you might indeed have a great coach, usually good coaching costs money. What’s wrong with coaches who love to coach and do it for a living?
I agree, trischnitz. I pay mine quite a bit, but so far, he’s been worth every penny.
clm
i pay 100$/ month, with unlimited phone/email, testing is ala carte
at 8 months /$800 he and i find me 20 plus minutes (or more )at IM
3 years in a row, how many minutes did that hed bar, or $1200 wheelset bring you?
my coach is great
michael porter (michejp@msn.com )
pete
i pay $100cdn/month + $75 start up fee.
for that, i get 4+ group workouts with the coach/week + unlimited phone/email (well…phone within reason) consultation, as well as the reputation of the best coach in the city coaching me.
i’ve seen great results so far, stayed healthy, and had a great time!
also got a computrainer session out of it, and if i desired, could probably get a few more testing type things as well.
great guy, awesome coach!
My girlfriend has an exercise physiology degree… so I get my coaching for free…
hmm… on second thought… if you take the associated costs, maybe your $1000/year quote is actually cheaper…
for bike racing only coaching…
250 a month, getting performance testing, unlimited phone/email contact, with an olympic medalist, one of the hard men of the sport.
for bike racing though, it’s a little different. you’re getting the whole race tactic coaching thing also. with triathlon this sort of thing isn’t necessary. i don’t see how some of these coaches in tris justify 500 a month for what ammounts to a training plan spit out from a computer.
tommy
I coach a couple people a year for $60/month really for the fun of it and to see their gains on the course. For that they get email/phone and personalized program that can be changed as life dictates. I think there are other people like me that do it for the fun but cant/wont change professions for the financial implications. I only say this to say there are people out there doing this for less for fun but for the most part I agree you need to pay to get you moneys worth. Just be sure you compare the personalization you get form some coaches vs. the “brand” of others that just send you a cookie cutter training program.
I don’t pay myself.
I couldn’t find a coach that could take the extreme variability in my schedule and work it into some sort of plan they were comfortable recommending. So, I’m on my own. It’s probably just as well, because due to my weird work hours, sometimes it might look like an obvious day for a hard workout, but, I’m toasted, so I do something easy, or nothing at all. On the other hand, sometimes I know a certain segment of days will wipe out all chances to train, so I over-reach beforehand…knowing I’ll have time to recover the next several days. Some days I can find a few hours for a long ride, somedays I just have to jack it up to redline for 20 minutes and come home. I don’t know of a coach that could take all of this into consideration unless he was working with me on a one-to-one personal basis…and I can’t afford that kind of attention.
I have a very good coach and I don’t pay him nearly that much. Some coaches just love to coach and aren’t out to make money - these are the ones you should look for.
I’m happy that you have a good coach, but people deserve to make a living or at least get paid for their time.
I suggest that folks be willing to pay a fair wage for good advice.
Well, not to rain on the parade, but I have a very contrarian view of most of the coahing I have seen.
Most of the standard package e-coaching that I have seen really doesn’t make much sense because most people don’t fit in a standard package, and there are plenty of books for a much lower cost where you can study and learn the principles. Most folks I see that follow standard packages severely under perform, and of course that makes sense because we are all individuals with different needs, constraints, and goals. If you just simply don’t have discipline maybe this is the wrong sport - or I guess you can pay for it.
On the other hand, true coaching is quite intensive and takes a lot of time; therefore, I costs a whole lot. So, unless you are planning to make your living in this sport it really doesn’t make sense from either a time or money point of view. But, that I suppose is an individual value judgment.
My theory is that the best approach is to learn the basic principles of training and then YOU apply them to your situation. Learning the priciples may entail reading, going to seminars/camps, or even short term coaching. Even paying for an occassional phone consultation may make some sense.
I am really not trying to knock anyone, particularly the coaches, but if you think about it for us MOPers self coaching is the only answer, and you have places like this forum to get all the input you need.
Good luck, and race fast!
david, i disagree that for all mopers self coaching is the only way to go. For some yes for others no.
I charge $125 per month for triathletes. not on the high end but not at the bottom range either. I really don’t have a standard package. You are right that it is intensive and does take lots of time.
I’ve had many athletes come to me b/c even though they read the books they think every sentence in the book applies to them.
I’m also not sure everybody has time to go an get a degree in exercise physiology and spend years coaching to learn the basics. I majored in ex phys and have over 10yrs coaching experience. I still feel I’m learning how to be a better coach.
The books don’t teach th nuances of coaching. Most of the self coached athletes I coached don’t back off when they should, don’t change things mid stream if needed, and have a hard time being objective about themselves. Oversight and guidance isn’t always a bad thing.
I’m not sure what you mean by standard? cookie cutter one fits all packages? Or each workout written for the athlete? My athletes, thankfully or by good planning, have failed to underperform, unless you count 4 AZ state cycling titles over TT, road and hill climbing, knocking off huge chunks of time and /or finishing their first ever oly and/or IM, and not to mention a few team usa tri and du athletes.
I pay $75/month for an on-line coach. I get personalized bike/run workouts and group swim workouts. It’s MUCH cheaper than the local coaches who charge $250 and up per month. I’d prefer more personalized attention, but for $75/month, I can’t complain. It’s nice to have specific workouts and a plan, which I never had before. I just winged it for years.