So, as I have improved my fitness over the last month, I have had more of a desire to be at the top fitness level that I can achieve. However, I don’t really have a set A race in mind for next year.
I will still race a lot. Maybe I do decide to try Gravel Nats and some other big races. But as of now, I do not have any “A” race for next year.
Would it be a bad idea for me to splurge on a coach? For the last 2 years, I have just done my own stuff, and it has been middle of the road. Times when it worked great, times when I was way off my fitness goals.
So, is it time for me to splurge on a cycling coach?
I have read and re-read your post. I couldn’t see any indication as to what you are expecting to get out of a coach rather than a nebulous “to get faster”.
The first question I’d ask is: “Why do I want to hire a coach precisely?” And don’t answer “To get faster.” A few potential answers that come to mind are:
I don’t know why I am not getting faster and why my training is meh (“sometimes great, sometimes way off”). I need someone from the outside looking in to help me with that.
I’d like an expert to help me make good choices and set appropriate training goals, e. g. polarized vs. sweet spot base training, should I train my TTE or my FTP, etc.?
I need someone who holds me accountable.
I need someone to help me when to push, when to take it easy, to determine training volume and intensity.
I feel like I am lacking the knowledge and I need someone to teach me more of the training basics.
I don’t want to/have the bandwidth to learn the basics of structured training, I want to give that responsibility to someone else.
There are plenty more reasons, obviously. Also, I would be very cautious about pricing. The more you want from a coach, the more expensive it will be. A basic human coach will cost around $170–200/month, and as far as I understand, the interaction with them is rather limited. A former team mate paid $800/month, but that included rides together and lots of interaction.
Independently of whether you end up hiring a coach, I would ask the following questions:
Am I sleeping enough? This for me is the determining factor whether or not my training is sustainable.
Why is my training inconsistent? E. g. last season I had a lot of life stress and I was sick for 3.5 (!) months. (I have three small kids whose favorite hobby it is to breed a wide assortment of bacteria and viruses.) That’s my body telling me I have been doing too much, and I have not respected my own limits last season.
When you write “Your training was great in some phases and meh in others.” is often an indicator you are training too much, i. e. you have opted for too much volume and intensity, and your body cannot recover from it. Consistency is king in endurance training.
What does your life look like? What are stressors and is training adding or alleviating stress?
How structured was my training? Have you followed a plan designed by someone else or a training platform? If the answer to the latter is no, I would most certainly start there.
If i were you, i’d give Basecamp a try. Not one on one coaching (its group coaching) , but way better than a prebuilt plan. Honestly, it better than or equally good to some custom coachs ive had. Its only base training, so in march youll need to figure out your next step, but youll have incredible fitness to build from. https://www.joinbasecamp.com/foundation
Most disciplined athletes would be very well off to make full use of TrainerRoad or similar to the extent it benefits them, before getting a coach.
Of course, if you are crazy genetically gifted and becoming super elite, then maybe spring for a coach. Or, if you need someone to hold you accountable and are looking for more like “whole life” training in the sense you also need help with nutrition, and other items, then a coach may be reasonable.
For probably 90% of cyclists, a program like TR is more than they would ever need. Most peoples limitation is their own discipline as opposed to doing the most optimal program.
I’m a fan of experimenting with different approaches to discover what does/doesn’t work for you. That said, if you haven’t tried sticking to a structured training plan using a tool like Trainerroad, I’d definitely start there. It’s a well-proven approach that is likely going to drive improvements. Finding a human coach that is actually capable and a good fit for you is more of a hit or miss experiment and much more expensive than trying something like TR. There are some really good and really bad coaches out there. TR is known to be a good coach.
Even if the $ for human coach is a non-issue for you, I’d still start with something like TR if you haven’t done a bunch of structured training before. It will allow you to grab the low hanging fruit while giving you a better taste for basic training approaches. If/when you elect to try a human coach, you are likely in a better place to find a good fit.
Update. After trying some AI trainers, I am strongly considering going with Ignition Coach Co. Has anyone used them before? If so, thoughts? I know they have multiple coaches but curious if anyone has used them.
Dylan has lots of content out there, so I reckon you’ll know a lot by simply listening/watching it. Do you think you are compatible with their approach? I don’t just mean training philosophy, but also in terms of personality.
I think if you’ve got the budget to spend on a human coach, you should try it out for a season. After the season is over, reflect back on if it was worth it! Coaches have a wealth of knowledge and techniques to critique your performance, which you can then emulate when coaching is over.
Yeah. I have watched a lot of his stuff and like it. It seems to make sense to me at least. I have also had a coach a while back (3y) who was not the greatest. But I know from that experience that I have no problem following workouts.
I tried playing around with some AI options and just didn’t really like how they worked. The apps were often a fight to figure out what workout it wanted you to do. The training plans were kind of weird.
Ignition seemed to be the best value for money as they have unlimited contact with the coach. I applied, so we will see what happens. I have also listened to their podcast and seem to agree with a lot of what they say. If y’all are interested, I’ll keep you updated on how it goes. (They do obviously have rules about not sharing work out data, so I would be sure to adhere to that)
220- for normal. I qualify for the 180- Junior/ U23. Premium is 300. I think the only difference between normal and premium is your coach went to college to be a coach. At least from what I can tell having not yet talked to any of them.
If you’re young (u23), that’s also a great reason to get a human coach. A coach can take years of your learning curve, when trying to figure out what works for you training wise. Plus if your coach knows a bit about the local racing scene, they might be able to advise on races, teams etc that suit you.
Update. I am a little bit into training. So far, the unlimited contact has been nice when figuring out the new stuff. Very easy to simply shoot my coach a text and get a response before I go work out. So far I am enjoying it. I dont think I have any real complaints at this point.
