Coaching Cost, Duration, Age

Training
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I pay €95 monthly. Certified coach, multiple times Kona qualifier, former AG Euro Champion IM distance and certified physio therapist. Coaching includes monthly training plan and performance review.

That alone has helped me progress from AG top20 to having the AG podium within in reach and I’ve qualified twice for the half distance world championships, so I don’t think a formerly uncoached athlete necessarily needs a lot of coaching time. There should be plenty of quick wins. Minimum duration for me is probably 6-8 months for a cohesive multiple phase build up until race day.

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Who’s your coach? From your videos i thought it was your partner.

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Tom Bell from UK

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Perhaps. This is good insight though. I think I really need to do some more soul searching. I’m in a really bad funk and super negative on the sport right now. I mean I still enjoy it but, after years of trying to get “that one result” I think I’m over it. Now I write this a month post peak (Tulsa Tough) and have been burning the midnight oil at work. Pretty fatigued. I think a couple months off and then think about goals when not thinking about throwing the bike in the trash would be smart.

I am day to day. In another thread I wrote about being at work (flying airplanes) my mid back decided to lock up. I had some PT done while on a layover and it’s definitely better today. Makes me think it was/is a facet joint issue…anywho, I’m back Saturday. I’ll make the call on the 7 hours drive Sunday am. Honestly, right now even if the back feels fine I’m just not sure as I’m in for just the crit. Long way to drive for that with a back issue and my current state of mind.

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My coach is 130$/month and I’ve seen some nice gains in the last 3 months of working with him. He used to race P1/2 and is a bigger guy around 210lbs with a 1 hour power of 420w when he competed (Solid Crit and TT guy). Probably 45 years old. Out of SLC, UT. Unlimited text/calls. Workouts go to TR and Zwift through being linked over from Training Peaks. He has a guy that is likely to win Masters Nations this weekend as well. If you want to chat with him he is taking new clients but thats up to you, think personality needs to be a good fit.

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That seems incredibly reasonably priced.

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could you be overtraining? Man, i hate to get all gushy here, but when you’re racing for that ONE RESULT, you won’t get it.

Remember upgrading? When athletes are in the mindset of “I need place xyz to get ABC points in this race”, rarely do they do well. Whereas when they focus on the race itself, winning, and racing smart, versus for points, it just works out. I don’t know why, but it was 100% something I went thru.

When you find a coach, you should be asking yourself, “could i be friends with this person?” It’s so much more than the workouts; and if you’re in a funk, that’s exactly what you might need!

you shouldnt be “pretty fatigued”…that’s another word for unfocused training or overtraining

try dry needling for the back, it’s AMAZING

best of luck Landis!

Brendan

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49

I hired a coach for about a year (maybe 10 months?), and it was between $250-$300 a month (can’t remember) in 2019 though Training Peaks. He is also local to me, at the time living about a 30 minute bike ride away, so he knew where I would be training and if he didn’t know my events, it wasn’t hard to figure them out (he has since done several of the races I did/would do and beaten me at all of them).

How far out you should go is going to be individual. For me, with my fitness level (pretty high) I would say it took about 6 months to get where I wanted to be as an athlete, but I wasn’t paying attention. I don’t know power gains, he focused more on getting my brain and body built for the particular events and less to make me stronger (I was near my ceiling anyway).

I already had a lot of experience by then, but was lacking in specific areas and having a coach for me was like hiring a tutor.

At the time it was a bit of a “YOLO” expense. I have the expendable money but really should be saving it for more important things given my income level. But I have ZERO regrets at the expense and would do it all over again.

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50

It’s certainly possible. A bit more complicated I fear. Simple but, hard to fix I should say…That is I think it has more to do with sleep and work schedule or lack thereof. For example, last weeks schedule: Monday=morning ride and work a redeye to the east coast. In bed at 8am local. Tuesday=Sleep most of the day to get ready for late night flight back to the west coast. In bed Seattle at 3am local. Wednesday=minimum rest by the company to get back on schedule and depart Seattle around 12pm local. Long day. Fly 8 hours and duty of 12-ish I think. Thursday was easy on paper with a deadhead back to Phoenix. The company scheduled DH was pretty late so I took a super flight home which lest around 9am local (east coast). Squeeze in a hot ride later in the day.

Most weeks aren’t this bad but most start late and finish early or start early finish late. Flip flop is what we call it and it really messes with you. When you arrive home after three or four days you feel like you’ve been run over by a truck. While I work a four day trip I fit in a ride on the front and back so I only miss 2 days. However, those workouts are usually done sacrificing sleep.

It’s also common to get back to base around 9pm-12am and then out the door at 4:30am to fit in the work. I could wait and I do in the winter when it’s cooler. But, the summer is different. I recently purchased a smart trainer and that is allowing me to sleep longer.

My angle for a schedule is get Friday Saturdays and Sunday off. Start late on Monday to make a four day block. Also, Friday Saturday Sunday off in the summer works good for racing…

Agreed. It’s hard to really sum up who I am here. So, just take it that I over emphasized “that one result”. Really what happens is bigger races happen later in the year when my work/life is busiest. I burn it at both ends and burn myself out trying to hold fitness or peak. I need to start much later. More in line with the rest of the US.

Excellent advise!

True. Although I think it’s from ^^^. Not on the bike work per se.

Will look into it. Have not tried…thanks!

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@JSTootell thanks! Good insight…

edit: reading comments and months of thought I feel like a coach for me is the way to go. Unfortunately or fortunately I will require a lot of tweaking due to my schedule horrors. I’m just going to have to bake $5-6000 annually for coaching. Got to eat my words here. I still think it’s the best money spent and I spend more than that each year on gear so…time to put up or shut up.

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Right, what will make you faster? New bike frame / wheelset or that money spent on coaching? I’m gonna guess coaching.

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A question each has to explore. For me there is no amount of equipment I could buy that would have overcome the power required to stay with the front group at whatever race; hold the wheel of a much better climber on a prolonged climb; or bridging to a break of national caliber riders 20 seconds up the road during a crit.

Good dialed equipment might get you a couple seconds into that bridge but, the bulk of it is fitness related. Actually, most guys I race against have equipment as good or better than me so, in reality I’m just trying to stay even with respect to equipment. Meaning it’s 100% fitness related in my case. If your on an 80’s Huffy with a rusted chain then yeah equipment gains are easy to justify.

Having been coached for 15+ years in a different sport I find it interesting I’m having such an internal debate. Everyone who made it anywhere in that sport was coached. It is still the same today.

There’s a chance I’m over the competitive side too. Perhaps I should explore the just ride side of cycling. In many ways I feel like Tyler Hamilton when he talks about in his dark days how cycling became more about a number than enjoying it. It’s possible I’m doing this for the wrong reasons. IDK though. I feel the most alive when racing I do know that. I still think the funnest thing I can do on a bike is a criterium. I feel bad for the coach who has to deal with me :wink:

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Congrats @brendanhousler ! National road champ!

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Wow, @brendanhousler beat Chris Riekart and the Mike’s Bikes team? Huge congrats!!

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This is an important question to ponder, and I’m suggesting turning the question around. How much should a coach receive?

Is the coaching face to face? Is it one to one or for a group? Is it for a specific personal/group goal, just a few obvious thoughts.

I’m raising this way to consider this, so that one begins to take account of what it is the coach does and how much time, experience, expertise, etc, the coach is providing. As a example, if the coaching is one to one, face to face, then your coach has sacrificed more than just the face to face time with you, prep time, travel to and fro, anti social hours, eg, early morning, late afternoon/evening or weekends, etc. How much would you sacrifice and for what fee, if the boot was on the other foot? The latter type of coaching, can often be the only income your coach gets for that entire morning, etc, its not like an 8 hour day of repeated paid sessions, all in the one location.

Then there is the coach themselves. Are they primarily an academic/researcher or a coach? Are they a retired elite athlete as opposed to someone with teaching/coaching skills. The latter can be vital, as many modern elite athletes have never experienced being say an age grouper, they were talent spotted at an early age and have hence had elite level coaching all the training years, hence, their coaching experience may have little basis in your world! Researcher vs coach, concept applies to many fields, eg, Psychology, a psychologist researches the working of the brain, but a psychiatrist is licensed to treat brain functioning, but both branches of this discipline studied psychology, but you can’t infer they both have equal skills.

It is important to note that every elite athlete is coached by a coach who was never as good as you are or will be. This year’s gold medalist is a ‘has been’ tomorrow, and their records will be broken by athletes coached by these ‘has beens’, some being very average athletes but fantastic coaches.

How important is face to face coaching, vs, an online training plan, how tailored and specific to the person is the latter, how good is the athletes application of each session, without the presence of a coach? Are your endurance or VO2 sessions really at the target level? Are you really going to get up at 4am when you know the weather forecast, if you aren’t going to get your butt kicked for wimping out?

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@freoishome having coached a different sport I appreciate the input. As a former coach I would say if an athlete feels their goals are worth the cost then the coach is worth it.

That’s pretty nebulous but, determining worth is often subjectively very messy.

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ah man that schedule is cray; I see the issues it could create.

Guess it’s to how much do you love your work vs wanting time for things like a normal schedule and cycling.

Personally I always passed on med device positions that required “on call” time. Just wasn’t worth the $ to me.

good luck!

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i enjoyed these thought provoking questions, totally agree!

good at cycling does not mean good at coaching.

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My coach charges USD 120 p/m, which for me is money well spent. He tailors the training plan to the (many) changes in my schedule, does weekly calls and he’s available for ad hoc changes/questions. Most importantly, I got good results without having to wonder what to do which gives me peace of mind.

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thanks a ton!!

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