I've changed my mind. Not about hiring a coach, but about why people hire coaches. I should have said some people hire a coach because they're not very self-confident. Others hire a coach because they know themselves well enough to know they need a coach, and others hire one for the time-savings and convenience.

Many reasons for a coach. Who knows, maybe if I had a coach I'd be further along than I am now. But I do think there is much to be gained by floundering around on your own for a while. The thing about a pro (and this goes for any industry, not just coaching) is that they make it look easy. If you haven't tried to do it yourself, you'll be tricked into thinking it is easy, and you won't fully appreciate the service you're getting. You can never truly appreciate a professional service until you've struggled to do it yourself.

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Running To My Future
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quote:<HR>Originally posted by imfl03:
Thor, You are the most stubborn talented man I know... Your close to your last ti of the season, after that lets get together for a month or 2 and let me get you on a schedule. I can almost guarantee having me make your schedule will change your mind.<HR>

I accept with great honor your claim that I am somehow stubborn.

As I said, I'm not at all against coaching. I think almost everybody can benefit from a coach, and some can benefit immensely, how much depending on personality and the coach. Even me.

Let's touch base after Clearwater. I'm all ears. I honestly would love to work with a coach, but I do not want a coach enough for myself to plunk down money on it when I truly feel -- and enjoy! -- I can do it on my own, and when I have other "life" things to spend my coin on. I'm not saying I will go as far and high going it alone, because I believe a coach is what I need to someday go Sub-10 at Ironman, my true dream-goal (I honestly don't even care about Kona; it would be nice, sure, but Sub-10... now THAT would be amazing!).

My .02

With this being my first year of multisport and going from my first tri to a Half Iron in only 6 months and with all of you guys telling me that I could actually do it, I also went with another recommendation that some of you gave me, and that was to get in touch with Sheldon.

Did I "need" a coach to get ready for this HIM? Maybe, maybe not. Heck, I haven't had anyone coach me since high school 20 years ago. But, I felt much more comfortable leaning on the experience of someone who has done this before and who has also helped others get there. I can say with out a doubt that I have made considerable improvements in all three areas, even moreso on the bike. (Trainer Tuesdays are awesome).

Did I follow all the workouts exactly? Well... I'm a little stubborn also. Heh, I missed some swim workouts and probally went a little hard on some of the bike and run workouts. But, the overall structure of the plan over weeks and weeks is what I needed to stay on track.

So anyway, back to the OP question. I dunno how much is too much. But, I think I got a deal my coach. The plan he put me on has worked for me and the price was great.

I'm an unpaid coach. I volenteered to train folks in Team in Training for the Leukemia and Lymphona society. I have to get 30 athletes ready for an Ironman next summer. We just started base training lasat week. I also pay a coach to coach me, even though I'm qualified and certified level 1 USAT and I've been to Dave Scott's Triathon coach camp as well. I pay $133/month and it's more for the acountability more than anything else. Also, I need a sounding board to bounce my thoughts off of and he's taken over 400 athletes to Ironman so I trust his opinion more than most. I use Workoutlog.com as well and find it tremendously useful for interacting with my coach, so much so that we are making it required for the TNT athletes in our program to get an account by January 1st of 2008 so we as coaches can dip into their training and communicate with them more efficiently.

I learned the hard way, reading lots of books and riding with friends who have bike raced since before I was born. I've been dropped more time than I care to admit but that's OK, you need to know when to hold em and when to fold em. A good coach will help you find that balance.

That being said, $325 a month had better be in a posh NYC club and come with a case of Evian after every workout or something because that price is STEEP. For my $133/month I get bi-weekly phone calls (up to one hour), once a month in person meetings (up to one hour), regular workoutlog.com feedback via email and race specific meetings just before my races to go over the plan for race day. Anything less I would consider a rip off.

Good luch finding a coach, be sure your personalities mesh well, that can be a deal killer.

PS - Just for the record, I shaved my legs last night and it turned my wife into an animal ) I don't do it for the time savings either, that a load of ****. I do it because it makes my wife crazy for me, makes getting a massage much more pleasant, and when, not if, I go down to the pavement on my bike the road rash will be much easier to clean (main reason). Oh, did I mention it makes my wife ***** too?

Cheers,

AB

http://This message has been edited by Aikobear (edited Oct-21-2007).

I'm glad I finally got the time to read thru this topic - it's provided me a lot of food for thought as someone who dipped into this fairly late (38 yo first running race; 41 yo first tri.)

A friend of mine who's a triathlete asked me a couple years ago if I ever considered getting a coach (just for the record, she is not a coach.) At the time, I only casually mentioned to her that triathlons were something I'd like to do in the future. However, I was first & foremost a runner and really didn't feel the need for a coach at the time.

Once I mentioned to her that I would be actually doing a triathlon, she asked me the question again. Not having the budget for a coach at the time, nor an idea of whether this would be a one-time thing, I said maybe in the future.

Now that I've done a tri and want to do many more, I know I've got a more complicated task on my hands. Running all by its lonesome I can figure out. Mixing in the swimming (which I still need a ton of work on) and biking has been a lot tougher. And I know I haven't paid much if any attention to having the correct workout intensities, time spent on each workout, etc.

I figure I could wing it like I've been doing up to this point up to the Oly distance. Anything beyond that distance & improvement-wise, and I probably will need a coach to put it all together, and this discussion really gives me a better perspective on things.

- Joe

I hope I'm not to late to contribute here! I've been working with a coach for the last few months, and I think it's been a great choice. I met my coach in a swim class I took - he was a participant. We really started working together through our university's triathlon club in January. For me, the best part of what he does is make me focus on my weaknesses, avoid too much running (my strength, and what I would do most of if not for my coach), and balance my efforts. I would do way too much high-intensity otherwise.
For triathlon especially, I think it's useful to have a coach if you're coming to the sport from a high-performance background in one of the three sports. I'm a pretty decent runner, and would have probably applied my running training to the other three sports. I also wanted to be competitive right away, which I think was helped by working with a coach. In my third triathlon race ever, I qualified for the 2008 AG World Championships! The build-up and training for that race are going to get crazy, and I think having a coach for that time will be more useful than ever.
As to how much is too much: I would gag if someone wanted me to pay $300/month for coaching. As it is, I know my coach first as a friend, he seems to be enjoying working with someone with an interesting set of goals, and he knows that my new wife and I are pretty hard-up for money! Soooo, I pay a bit less than most, I imagine.