I see folks looking for a coach and I’m trying to figure out what you actually get for the $500+/month. What do you hope to achieve that you can’t accomplish yourself. Sure, there comes a point where you’ll hit limits on a DYI approach, but I suspect 99% of us here are nowhere near maxing out what we can accomplish ourselves.
Is it custom training plans? Accountability? Camaraderie? Guilting yourself is to working harder due to the costs involved? This is not meant to be a snarky comment and I’m not in anyway criticizing people who choose to work with a coach. I’m actually considering it myself. But I just don’t really have any idea what people expect to get out of it?
Judging by the training errors constantly posted on the forum, I can see why people need coaches. People are constantly doing too much, digging a hole of fatigue that they think is normal, and then don’t progress.
On top of it, they don’t trust their plan (TR or otherwise). I see them always trying to game TR’s efforts. They also don’t like rest weeks and live in the fatigue blanket.
It took me like 5 years to feel like I have a good handle on training science. A good coach would have been great to fast track that but I’ve never been racing for anything high level so I couldn’t justify it. Going back in time, I should have got a lower budget option. It would have helped enormously.
I think you’d be surprised at how non-knowledgeable a lot of people are regarding training and are get stuck following plans that range from ineffective to downright bad for them, I think more often than not people are spinning their wheels and not making a ton of progress. I think there’s something to be said for setting a good price point for coaching because a) they have to earn enough to live and b) it ensures they attract clients who are willing to value their feedback and guidance.
I simply didn’t want to think about programing my own training any more. It was taking up too much mental bandwidth. I have a chaotic job/schedule (medical resident) and I was sticking too much to my preconceived plan despite work stressors. I prefer to have a coach managing everything for me so I don’t grind myself to a pulp—personally, professionally, athletically.
Yes. A while back I had a call with on of the EVOC guys and I thought it was pretty bad. It’s the “market price” and I can live with that, but I won’t pay that much.
However, after you hear these ppl in podcasts you know what they are about, it’s hard to go one step below. It’s like value investing, you gotta get them on the way up
Who is the next gen of good coaches that you can get under $500, but in 2 years they’ll be $1k?
How long are you willing to pay for coaching? Is it 6 months, 12 months, or more? I think that matters.
When I finally paid for coaching I knew my timeline was 6-7 months, and I knew my budget.
The reason I bring that up is because if you think you might get some novel training withing a certain time frame, that can help make your decision. On the other hand, if you are willing to pay $XXX for 6, 12, 18 months then you can budget differently and also have a different time frame to see what the outcome is for your goals. Also, depending on your goal event - you may want to pull the trigger and get going.
My $0.02. I have imploded at a local race 3 years in a row. I’m 47 and female and not headed for any world tours. But I was really curious as to what a good year of training with a human (vs AI) would/could do for me to, maybe, finally, have success at this race. Decided to also go with one of Kolie’s coaches (Maeghan). Besides answering every damn question I email her whenever the mood strikes me, she has been responsive and a pleasure to work with. In the 3 months I worked with her before getting really sick 6 weeks ago I saw some really good improvement. If it was actual FTP or TTE I can’t tell you, but if I had to guess I brought my 30 min power from about 175 to 200. That’s ~3–>3.4 W/kg for me. Right before getting sick she was pretty optimistic about a VO2 block getting me another 10W. Not too shabby for 4 months. But as others have said, there is no magic. I do FTP workouts, I do endurance, I do some VO2… it isn’t rocket science. And I hope I’m not giving their trade secret away when I say that she has admitted to me that one of her most important jobs is getting people to rest. And do endurance easier than they think they should. Numerous times she has spoken to Kolie about something that has come up, so $ wise, using one of Kolie’s coaches, vs Kolie himself, still makes him accessible to you for anything “big” that comes up. Overall, I’m really pleased and would highly recommend his coaching group.
My reasons I am still paying for a coach and don’t intend to stop anytime soon:
She pushes me harder than I would have pushed myself in very specific ways.
She pushes me to rest when I would not have thought I needed it and/or for longer than I thought I needed to.
She tells me how to optimize and incorporate weight training.
I like that my money is going to a person/group that give(s) a lot back to the cycling community.
Despite reading/listening to All The Things about training, I have gotten a lot stronger a lot faster with a coach than I had been, and than I thought I would. Placebo? Maybe (doubtful, see above), but I’ll take it.
Not saying there aren’t bad coaches out there as I’ve heard of a few, but I’m just wondering how many people here think you actually need to pay as much as everyone’s quoting to get a really good coach.
The reason these guys are charging that much isn’t because they’re “better”, it’s supply and demand and because they can. “Charge 'em till you like 'em…”
prefer to have a coach managing everything for me so I don’t grind myself to a pulp—personally, professionally, athletically
This is completely backwards IMHO.
Managing my own cycling/training plan is a simplified and ultimately irrelevant area of my life that I use as a canvas to build skills of self-reflection, self-insight, and self-compassion. I try to apply those skills in the areas of my life that are actually ambiguous and tricky and important.
Yes, absolutely. And, there are times it helps you get it right where you wouldn’t. It’s not like the relationship has to be all that “intensive” you’re legitimately talking a couple minutes extra a day most days.
If you want to be that involved and can be at all times, have at it. But I agree with the others - definitely not backwards.
I don’t think this is the topic to debate coaching vs self coaching.
It seems like hardly an intensive relationship. In most of these scenarios, you get workouts posted in TrainingPeaks, some text messages or emails, and a chat once a month or if there is a problem.
This is not like track coaching for the Olympics where the athlete is in daily constant in person contact with the coach.