Yes I know - the whole idea of TR is that you don’t need a coach. But humour me for a few moments.
What does a “normal” coach do? They devise a training plan for you, adapt it as necessary, then give you feedback / advice / encouragement as you progress through it. And in general, the more you pay, the more 1-on-1 communication you get with your coach via email, Skype calls, etc.
So why not do offer it as a premium subscription option with Trainer Road? The coach saves time having to devise training plans. The rider saves money because the coach isn’t spending ages loading workouts into the calendar.
Instead the coach would be a sounding-board for the athlete - offering encouragement, advice, answering questions, suggesting alternative workout suggestions, giving analysis of training sessions, rides, or races, etc. This could be done as - say - a weekly email conversation and monthly Skype chat, depending on how much you pay.
Business-wise, Trainer Road could employ coaches on a freelance basis, paying them a fixed amount per athlete coached, and the coaches could continue to train their own clients on top of whatever work they do for TR - cutting out financial risk for TR.
Anyway, thought it was worth bringing up. If nothing else, this forum has proved that even with a full training plan, there are endless variations from athlete to athlete, and endless questions to answer.
What you outline is essentially what Training Peaks already offers.
Not saying your suggestion it isn’t worth consideration here, but we are seeing signs that TR is headed in a different direction, at least initially.
There are hints about some form of adaptive training based on workouts. We have no real idea what is coming, but I am excited that we will see something very interesting this season.
Except that unless I’ve got it wrong, (a) those coaches still need to spend time populating your calendar with workouts, and (b) the training plan they offer and the coaching methods they subscribe to would vary from coach to coach.
What I’m suggesting is more like a selection of coaches who are basically your own mini-Chad - all of them helping you get the most of your ready-made TR plan.
We won’t be adding more coaches or offering a service quite like you described in the near future. However, keep an eye out for new developments along the lines of what @mcneese.chad mentioned!
For the moment, I think most in the TR community use this forum as a resource for all the situations you mentioned:
However, @tenjake is right that if you want a personal coach, the best way to go about it is to hire your own and share your data with them.
