Why should I get a Coach?
Well there are many answers to this question!! First off coaching isn’t for everyone, some athletes are very successful doing their own thing, but having said that coaching should be able to offer a wide range of benefits to any athlete
Coaching goes well beyond just setting up a monthly training schedule, coaching should provide a lot more ie:
- · A Dynamic Training Plan –adjusting your training on an ongoing basis, based upon feedback from your workouts
- · Workout Analysis – a coach should be looking at your workouts and providing feedback on how well they were executed and what can be done to make them better in the future
- · Goal Setting – help you to set up appropriate (ie challenging but achievable) goals
- · Setting Appropriate Training Loads – being able to help dial in the appropriate amount of training needed at the different points in the season depending upon your goals and schedule.
- · A Plan you Trust – having the comfort of believing in your training plan and being able to wake up in the morning and focusing on executing the set workout as opposed to getting up and wondering what workout you should do that day!
- · Psychologist – a coach should help you with the mental side of training and racing, whether it be day to day fatigue, swim start phobias or your best mind set for racing, a coach should help you figure out what works best for you.
- · Equipment – being able to provide feedback and information on the huge variety of training and racing equipment available and help you to use your money wisely and get the tools that give you the most return for your $
- · Race Plans – A coach will provide a detailed race plan, going over overall strategy for the day as well as details on the appropriate heart rate, power and perceived exertion levels for any given race for each athlete as well as specific details about the race course. This will all help to ensure that you have best chance or racing to your potential on the day
- · Nutrition – A coach will be able to help you set up a nutrition plan for training and racing, as well as daily nutrition
- · A Reliable Source of Information – there are so many places to get triathlon information these days (tri mags, internet forums, your training buddies) but there are lots of conflicting ideas and theories, by working with a coach you should have a go to person who you are able to ask any questions and not be left confused by the differing opinions from different sources of info.
- · Experience – a good coach should have a wealth of experience with different athletes and different training situations, so that when issues arise with your training your coach is able to recognize the problem and help provide a solution. As well a coach should be able to help athletes avoid some of the common pitfalls of training and racing so you can avoid having to learn by doing!
- · A Different View Point – a lot of times as athletes we get too caught up in the daily ritual of training and aren’t able to step back and take a look at the big picture, a coach is there to be able to tell you if you aren’t seeing all the factors in an important decision (this tends to happen a lot with type A motivated personalities) ie when you are too tired and what you really need is more rest as opposed to more training, this is a very hard call for most athletes to make on their own
- · The Stick or the Reins – a coach should help an athlete with their motivation (ie the Stick!) when they need it but also be able to hold an athlete back (ie the Reins!) when they need it as well
- · Provide a Network of Assistance – whether it be bike issues, massage therapy or a sports injury specialist a coach should have a network of contacts that they use to help their athletes with any issues that comes up
Overall coaching is about building a relationship and a level of trust between the coach and athlete so that the athlete feels confident in their training and racing plans and they are able to focus on key factors to success and not worry about the smaller details
Nigel
Nigel Gray is Head Coach of NRG Performance Training, with over 10 years of coaching experience from beginners to Elite athletes
