If all that is true that you say (and I’m not disagreeing with you), why is the % of self coached athletes so small at the top 20 WC level. As I said, self coaching allows for total freedom, but I actually think it brings in more self mental anguish than anything. There’s no one else to blame but yourself, and the workload one must do to make it work to reach those specific goals…..
When Long explained sorta why he was self coached, I just thought must of had some bad experiences, cus again most top coaches I know live by the ethos- athlete gets all the credit when they win, and the coach takes the blame when the “lose”. I don’t know of many coaches who get out on the socials after big races and talk about how it was their coaching, most I know talk about all the hard work the athlete put in, deserves all the credit etc. But to have that those words, obviously it may have been different for him and his own coaching experience (everyone has those stories of coach sucking never gave me feedback, blah blah blah and of stories that coach was great and huge asset, etc).
What does a top coach cost? I’m asking because I honestly have no idea what pros pay.
I mean, I agree that all athletes at every level have to focus on the process because the results are beyond their control. But no athlete is indifferent to outcomes and results. They’re paying a coach to make them better, to improve their performance. The improvement has to be enough to justify the costs.
I’m skeptical that any coach could move Sam up that much more than a few places. Does that 8th place finish influence SL’s financial situation in a meaningful way? Jumping from 14th to 8th at Nice would have meant mean $9,000 more. Would that top ten have netted him more sponsorships? I don’t know, but I doubt it.
It just seems reasonable to me that, if an investment in a coach does not generate a financial return, athletes will choose to take a pass.
And we have no idea what the psychological impact is. Some athletes likely prefer a coach because it reduces the stress of choosing workouts or it holds them accountable. Others may find being told what to do is burdensome and find it stressful to work within someone else’s framework.
Top coaches generally have 2 pathways….monthly fee + % winnings. You can do it a number of different ways and/or combination. If your coaching Blu do you charge him “less” than standard coaching fee knowing your going to get % of his winnings with that type of contract setup? Do you charge the developing athlete more standard/normal number knowing said athlete is never going to get much prize money? So just like when an athlete has to figure out if it’s worth it to justify, so do coaches.
There’s no “standard” essentially, but of course this is all wild wild west, independent contractors essentially.
It should also be noted if your suggesting going from outside the top 10 to T10 WC isn’t financially good enough, your also talking about an athlete like Long who’s only accomplished T10 1 out of 6 times at WC IM/70.3 events. So I’d probaly be see it much bigger improvement than how you see it, but yes every person in life has to look at the investment and outcome to see if it’s worth it.
That “improvement” would basically pay for itself if you look at the financial numbers would it not? You gave it $9k improvement from just worlds, but then add in other race winnings improvement from the rest of the races as well, etc. The same improvement from 14th to 8th in both IM WC’s would be an $13.5k just from those 2 races. Is that “worth it”? I guess each person has to answer that. As I said for an athlete who desires winning all these races and has 1 podium in what 8 years now in the sport…..suggesting T10 isn’’t good enough to invest in, that’s an interesting take imo.
Sometimes the financial picture at the end of the day isn’t the only thing that matters. Personally I feel like at the professional level you have to look at coaching fees as an investment, not an expense. Especially with the amount of sponsors he has and increasing responsibilities at home. Having two kids is going to take a toll on him, he at least needs someone in his corner that can advocate for his best interests and take a bit of the mental load off his shoulders.
Yeah, with a coach and slightly better finishes he may net out financially at the end of the year, but does that extend his career and generally reduce his stress levels?
Outside of the obvious swim work (which hopefully he keeps working with Greg, and does more in person coaching with him in the offseason), the biggest enemy of Sam progressing is Sam. He always seems to be either afraid of losing fitness, or feeling that he needs to do high volume and intensity. Look at this week where 1 week after Nice and leading into IM Chatt this weekend, he did part of the shootout Saturday (hard ride), big track set Sunday, and over 3 hours on the bike Tuesday with some 6’ miles off. Same thing leading into Nice where Sam after T100 France did some long/hard brick sessions including only a few days out from Nice.
Sam, how about some rest!?!? You raced HARD less than 2 weeks ago and have another full IM in 2 weeks, traveled halfway around the world, and had an emotional rollercoaster in Nice. Look at Jonas Shomberg, who trains like an absolute animal, he did pretty much nothing between Nice and T100 Spain and podiumed with an awesome race in Spain. Sometimes less is more. I fully admit I struggle with this myself, and holding me back is probably the #1 thing a coach could do for me, and that’s partially why I make it mandatory to take a few full days off after every target event and not do a structured workout for at least a week after.
Even outside this race block, Sam trains hard for sure, but he probably could do with a coach to help him periodize and structure his training to better balance work with recovery. It’s almost impossible to do that yourself because you feel the pressure and desire to improve, and see more volume/intensity/effort as the way to do that. Trusting a coach who can keep you accountable to not do too much, and make sure your key sessions are timed well, and specific to addressing fitness goals is what’s worth paying $$ for a high quality coach, not writing workouts in training peaks.
The interesting thing about self coaching is that it’s *primarily done in athletics at the tail end of your career. Athlete has had 6 different coaches, so has a wealth of information and strategies and is only going to do this for 2 more years, so why the hell not, plus if your at the tail end of your career is it “worth it”? Not very often at the peak of your ability and career do athletes make that choice.
One last thing with self coaching, while it puts the buck stopping squarely with the athlete only and no one else, it also means everything is on you as the coach and athlete- workout planning, workout analyzation, watching/knowing the sport, etc. All that is fun as hell and also full on as hell too on top of being a full time world class athlete.
Sam posted on IG yesterday regarding his post Nice feelings and fatigue. He mentioned his blood work showed a lot of lingering inflammation and low T levels. It makes me wonder if he went into that race more fucked than fit. He was really skinny.
Almost definitely. Sam had very disappointing bike splits at Nice and at T100s London and Frejus. Low T would show up the most on the bike in not being able to push/sustain real high end power like you would need to, especially in the T100 races which both had very “spikey” ride efforts. He also mentioned not doing Chattanooga because he was worried about a potential injury, which likewise low T combined with being overtrained would 100% put you at a bigger injury risk.
To me that does show that Sam shouldn’t be so disappointed by his Nice performance especially coming in overdone. Was top dogs in that group he swam with and finished either on par or ahead of a lot of other big names who were expected to do well- right near Hogenhaug, RvB and ahead of Leon, Wurf, etc.). He also was far from the only one to go in a little too far in the hole- most notably KB did as well with pulling the plug on that brick workout one wheel out and falling off on the 2nd half of the run.
Just Sam, learn how to rest! With your huge training history and volume you won’t lose fitness not doing a ton for a week before the race. Sure train through the T100s which is basically a paid training session this year, but especially with how you race you’ve got to go into the big races very fresh and ready to smash the bike/run.
So: no PTO salary next year. I hope Sam is swimming his guts out right now. Else he’ll be little more than the second most loved MPRO in the U.S. 70.3 scene!
There really is no excuse for not nailing a mid pack (on world stage level) swim. Sam confessed he’d had no technique training to speak of until he met Harper. Bring it on!
I’d guess he tries a couple of hot weather T100s that suit him (ex. Singapore) to grab some Top10 prize money. And focuses a lot more on domestic 70.3s and Kona.
There was no mention about T100 paying travel/accommodation. It’ll be hard for the 2nd tier pros to justify trips to places like Singapore (and ME for NA athletes) if they have to pay their own way to races where they don’t earn much and that aren’t part of their sponsors’ bonus structure.
