Feature Request - accountability coach

I had an idea on my ride this morning. I struggle with accountability and have even hired a coach outside TR primarily for that. I have kept TR because of the group workouts and I like the ecosystem but I wish it did something more to keep me accountable. Would anyone find value of a bot that would auto post to strava “I’m lazy I missed a planned workout”. It could also go another level and donate some pre determined amount of $ if you miss a workout.

This would help me be motivated, would anyone else see this as valuable? I know they get a lot of ideas but this would help me a lot.

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Accountability can definitely be a significant part of coaching. I’m not sure what the steps would look like to implement an ‘accountability bot’, but we hear ya! :raised_hands:

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FWIW this thread:

https://www.trainerroad.com/forum/t/what-workout-did-you-do-today-2020-part-2/

helped me with accountability before hiring a coach.

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I really like the idea here, what does that look like without going too far into the annoying zone? When I was doing my TR plan to a T back in winter/early spring I was posting in the “what workout did you do today” thread.

That little thing made me just a little more accountable every day, and also it’s one of the most positive threads here in the forum.

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You beat me to it.

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Digging up an old thread, as I was having the same struggle - finding a good way to get an external source of accountability. Did you end up sticking with the coach for a while? Find another way to get accountability?

I’m sticking with a coach for now it’s working well for me. If I get to a point where my performance increases stop then I might try to do something else

The key for me has always been to be part of a team/club/group that’s in roughly the same ballpark as me in terms of fitness, commitment and goals. Seeing their Strava rides and miles racking up, seeing the messages about people meeting up for rides, going on group rides and being able to gauge where I am against people I know - gives me all the accountability and motivation I need. And having a few days a week where I’m meeting one or more people at a specific time and place for a ride basically makes me close to 100% compliant on doing those rides as the alternative is letting people down. Think I’ve only missed one in the last 6 months and that was when I went to bed feeling fine and woke up for an early morning ride with a headache, sore throat and high temperature.

These days could be virtual as well. A friend has made huge strides in fitness this year from joining an online team who do the WTRL TTT on Zwift every week. Knowing that’s in the diary every week and wanting to progress to doing more pulls, longer pulls, higher average watts, moving up to a stronger team, etc has made him much more consistent with how he trains the other 6 days. Plus having team-mates who notice when he nails a good workout and are commenting on Strava, team meetups, etc.

Yeah this makes a lot of sense - for some reason I’ve never been able to find that club, either in person (a mix of either way too recreational, or 100% in / traveling to all races) or virtually. I did WTRL Season 1 this year and had a blast, Season 2 I think I may try to get in with a competitive virtual club to continue to push myself along with other likeminded folks.

Definitely appreciate the input here - thanks.

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I came here to suggest this. The big part of having a coach for me was the accountability. I could even do a sponsor system. A buddy to text you “Hey, you didn’t workout today. Going to get it in tomorrow or what?”