Could I benefit from a coach

Shavedlegs

I only get a limited amount of time to train, basically my commute to work and my lunch hour. I may get the odd Sunday ride in.

Would I benefit from a coach or is there little any one can do without me committing to more time. Does anyone have a coach they could recommend?

Mike Willcox

Shavedlegs wrote:

I only get a limited amount of time to train, basically my commute to work and my lunch hour. I may get the odd Sunday ride in.

Would I benefit from a coach or is there little any one can do without me committing to more time. Does anyone have a coach they could recommend?

Do you want to train by Power and can you afford a Power Meter?

The answers will define which coach you choose, and yes you will benefit from a coach. It makes sense to look for a coach where you are able to do a face to face locally.

scherrit

You are almost certain to benefit from the right coach.... you'll need to think about what you want/need and can afford to pay for, before you even start calling coaches. The BC site has lists of coaches with contact details (I think!). Word of mouth is good, too. As above you'll need to decide wether you need/can afford a powermeter and this will also affect who you choose, Irun a powermeter for example and that means that long-distance coaching is possible/easier...
Good luck!

Hodger

I've been coached this year by one of Ric Stern's coaches via e-mail and I don't use a power meter. What has a power meter got to do with which coach you choose?
We started off using a HRM but ended up with RPE instead with successful results (for me anyway).

scherrit

Well (heck) some coaches don't use power in their training schemes, and if you think that power metering is useful and you can afford it, them you and that coach are not a good match......

Also as above I use a powermeter and in my view that makes distance coaching easier. In my opinion, it's one of a long list of decisions that you need to have made, as they will affect which coach suits you best.....

Hodger

scherrit wrote:

Also as above I use a powermeter and in my view that makes distance coaching easier. ....

why? Communication is the key, not whether or not you have a power meter. It's better to be able to feedback how you are responding imo and you don't need a power meter for that. Like I said, the guy who coached me does use PM's as he is one of Ric's coaches but he's not averse to coaching via RPE or HRM either.

BlackHelmet

Shavedlegs wrote:

I only get a limited amount of time to train, basically my commute to work and my lunch hour. I may get the odd Sunday ride in.

Would I benefit from a coach or is there little any one can do without me committing to more time. Does anyone have a coach they could recommend?

I'm 100% sure a coach could advise you on how to maximise the time you have available. i would say that's a fundamental aspect of good coaching. However, I'm sure with a little research and reflection on your time & goals you could design a good program for yourself, if of course you have the time to do that

Eddy S

Shavedlegs wrote:

I only get a limited amount of time to train, basically my commute to work and my lunch hour. I may get the odd Sunday ride in.

Would I benefit from a coach or is there little any one can do without me committing to more time. Does anyone have a coach they could recommend?

You could benefit greatly from a coach guiding and helping you to plan and structure to get the best out of your limited time and availability and this will be based around your aims and goals.

Time constraints caused by my life style and me wanting proper guidance to do the right things to achieve my goals are the reasons I have a coach - I have come a very long way fitness, performance and results wise in the last 2 years working with John Capelin.

Contact and speak to few people, see who you strike a rapport with but go in to the conversations knowing and understanding what you want to get out of the relationship.

Your coach doesn’t have to be local – John isn’t local to me but it works for me because I can apply my own discipline and motivation (most of the time… 8) ). It really depends on what level of interaction you feel you need to achieve your goals.

Sure, if you want to do the research and understand what you want to achieve and how you’re going to do it, maybe books and the internet can help you to do it yourself. But, the only thing with that approach is, who provides your objective outside view? And who helps when it isn’t working or when has all gone wrong?