My question is whether my money would be well spent on a coach. The reason I ask is because, being quite the nerd, I have already looked into a lot of training philosophy, strategies, routines, etc. What would a coach be able to bring to the table that I can't already do myself? For reference, the cost is $200/month, which could add up to equal some serious weight weenie gear over a few months.
I'm thinking I'll try it out for a few months and see if I notice any improvements over self-coaching and re-evaluate. The minimum commitment is 3 months.
I was in a similar boat about a year ago!
I was previously coached though LW Coaching, and also TIS some years ago so had a fair understanding of training philosophy, strategies, routines, etc… At the time I was following a plan set out by myself in the traditional periodization model, Base, Build, Taper, Race w/ decent volume. On employing my coach he effectively flipped the plan on its head and changed my (rather out dated) way of doing things. There was nothing wrong with what I was doing, he just identified ways it could be done better. Subsequently performance improved for months and has done so for almost a year now despite reducing my training volume by about 50% since March (due to a new baby).
At the time I employed my coach he would review and update my plan weekly, respond to emails back and forwards about twice weekly (i.e. two entirely different conversations per week), review and comment on Garmin files, offer advice on nutrition, racing, etc… Now I am at a point where I set my own goals, prep my own training plan and the Coach reviews the plan, offers up suggestions such as changing various sessions, etc… (at a very reduced rate). He also offers an alternate view point which I find handy as occasionally I box myself into doing too much of the same thing, or not thinking outside the box. I also know he is there if I run into trouble, or hit a bit of a plateau.
A bulk of my coaching is done online, via email, Facebook, phone, etc.. as we live in different cities, however when we are in each other’s town we make sure we catch up for a ride, or a coffee.
Is there value in it, I would say yes but only because I have quite flexible arrangements with my coach – if I were paying $200 per month then personally I couldn’t see the value in its current form.
That said, the 3 month commitment might be enough of a change to get over a plateau or yield impressive gains simply just though change.
