I’ve asked this before years ago, but ended up just getting all the reasons why an athlete might not mesh with a coach. Personality, geography, ect.
OUTSIDE of the reasons like personality conflict, I’d have to have a consultation with her first, I’d need top know her goals, and such… Assume she is of the mind that you are the triathlon coaching god and she’ll do anything you tell her. (take it easy)
If Chrissie came to you and asked you to be her coach, would you be confident enough to accept? We have coaches on this board that charge between 60 and 500 a month for their coaching so I imagine there has to be someone who would feel 100% up to the task, and maybe some who wouldn’t.
I don’t understand this coaching thing. Why would* I pay someone all this money to tell me to swim, bike and run? Its not that complicated. Its just kill the swim, hammer the bike and then with whatever is left finish strong. OK, whoever reads this and follows my advice please send me $500.00. *
I’ve asked this before years ago, but ended up just getting all the reasons why an athlete might not mesh with a coach. Personality, geography, ect.
OUTSIDE of the reasons like personality conflict, I’d have to have a consultation with her first, I’d need top know her goals, and such… Assume she is of the mind that you are the triathlon coaching god and she’ll do anything you tell her. (take it easy)
If Chrissie came to you and asked you to be her coach, would you be confident enough to accept? We have coaches on this board that charge between 60 and 500 a month for their coaching so I imagine there has to be someone who would feel 100% up to the task, and maybe some who wouldn’t.
Where do you land and why?
As long as she pays my customary fee of $2000 per month I would have no issues. I am in the business of coaching to make money, as long as I get it, I am not worried about whether my athletes have any confidence in my abilities as a coach. I learned everything I know by reading ST posts, so that should tell you a lot about my coaching knowledge.
BTW I am still taking on clients, PM me if interested. If you mention this post I will give you the customary 5% slowtwitch discount.
Actually the answer to that would be no. I think Jordan was right on with his other post where he talked about athletes not always being what they seem. Chrissie is an amazing athlete, and I wish her nothing but success, however she has always appeared to be very insecure with respect to her own regiment. I don’t have any real basis to say that since I don’t know her, train with her, hang out with her, etc., but it is an assertion that seems to have some validation based on things that have been said or done. That said, I’m not sure I would coach anyone who is ex-TBB. I’m not sure whether they come from such a strong tradition that they can’t see things through another lens or whether they need much more control over their proto because they were honed in such a strong tradition. Either way, it makes them more challenging to work with in my view.
Then again, I might have to put all that aside if I want to coach a world champion.
"I don’t understand this coaching thing. Why would* I pay someone all this money to tell me to swim, bike and run? Its not that complicated. Its just kill the swim, hammer the bike and then with whatever is left finish strong. OK, whoever reads this and follows my advice please send me $500.00. "*
My opinion as a self-coached athlete, is that some people may need a coach for a season or two, but if you haven’t learned enough from following someone else’s direction for a year or two then there is some kind of problem. A good coach should not only give workouts but advice and instruction to the point where they do themselves out of a job after a couple of seasons. I think that Chrissie needs a good training group more than a coach.
…Chrissie is an amazing athlete, and I wish her nothing but success, however she has always appeared to be very insecure with respect to her own regiment…
I assure you that she knows that the Old Seven-and-Sixpennies always was and always will be her regiment.
I’m convinced that some top level athletes need a coach to tell them exactly what to do. These people are genetically gifted but not too bright. Think Ben Johnson for example. Other athletes are quite capable of figuring things out for themselves and can self coach.
I don’t understand this coaching thing. Why would* I pay someone all this money to tell me to swim, bike and run? Its not that complicated. Its just kill the swim, hammer the bike and then with whatever is left finish strong. OK, whoever reads this and follows my advice please send me $500.00. *
My guess is that her needing a coach is more of a formality. I imagine that it’s something like a parent, waking you up at 6:00am to go to school. You know damn well that you need to get up and do it, but sometimes you can benefit from someone pulling the blanket off your head and kicking you in the ass.
If Chrissie came to you and asked you to be her coach, would you be confident enough to accept? We have coaches on this board that charge between 60 and 500 a month for their coaching so I imagine there has to be someone who would feel 100% up to the task, and maybe some who wouldn’t.
Where do you land and why?
The first step would be to have a consultation and let the two of us understand each other and our methodologies. From this meeting, I almost always get a very good feeling as to whether I can help the athlete or not. I would not agree to accept an athlete of any caliber until after a meeting such as this. Coaching goes way beyond “teaching someone to swim, bike, and run.” It does involve training an athlete in those sports, but much more in training an athlete to know their own body, own ability, and own sense of what’s capable both now and in the long term. The athlete has to believe in the coach, and the coach has to believe in the athlete; but more importantly the athlete has to believe in the coach’s belief in the athlete.
I don’t understand this coaching thing. Why would* I pay someone all this money to tell me to swim, bike and run? Its not that complicated. Its just kill the swim, hammer the bike and then with whatever is left finish strong. OK, whoever reads this and follows my advice please send me $500.00. *
If that’s all you got out of a coach, I don’t understand it either.
I don’t understand this coaching thing. Why would* I pay someone all this money to tell me to swim, bike and run? Its not that complicated. Its just kill the swim, hammer the bike and then with whatever is left finish strong. OK, whoever reads this and follows my advice please send me $500.00. *
cheques in the mail
I asked one of the really good coaches on this forum this same question right after she won Roth - expecting him to say a firm YES. (My thought, who wouldn’t want to coach Chrissie?)
He told me “I’d have to chat with her and see if we could work together.”