Triathlon Coach

CazP

Boardies,

I've been doing triathlons a couple of years and want to put some structure to my training after a pretty poor effort:D over the winter. Want to complete IM 70.30 Ireland this September. I'm looking for a good coach in the Dublin area who might be able to help me out. I'm kind of nervous about the whole process and don't want my club mates to know that I'm getting coached as I'm not that good...yet I do, however, have goals and I think a coach will help me fulfill those. Just wondering does anybody have any recommendations. Also conscious that I don't want to be involved with a coach who solely deals with 'elite' athletes and can tailor a plan correctly for a woman.:)

Gringo78

CazP wrote: »

don't want my club mates to know that I'm getting coached as I'm not that good...yet I do, however, have goals and I think a coach will help me fulfill those.

From this statement i'm assuming you're in a tri club, is there not a coach in the tri club? (I've no experience with tri clubs so maybe they don't have coaches)

Bambaata

You might also need to consider that if you go fully with a coach you most likely would not be able to train as much with the club as the coach would be tailoring things to your needs which would be quite specific.

couerdelion

My advice would be to join a club where there is a coach available to help and who you feel comfortable to approach and explain what you need.

Most club coaches would love to assist and help any of their athletes meet their goals and will be willing to take the time to sit down and talk through your aims and hopes for the season and help to schedule a training plan to fit in with your life, club training and also one that meets your needs.

As Bambaata says, if you get an external coach to your club the chances are you will spend most of your time training alone.

Nwm2

CazP wrote: »

Boardies,

I've been doing triathlons a couple of years and want to put some structure to my training after a pretty poor effort:D over the winter. Want to complete IM 70.30 Ireland this September. I'm looking for a good coach in the Dublin area who might be able to help me out. I'm kind of nervous about the whole process and don't want my club mates to know that I'm getting coached as I'm not that good...yet I do, however, have goals and I think a coach will help me fulfill those. Just wondering does anybody have any recommendations. Also conscious that I don't want to be involved with a coach who solely deals with 'elite' athletes and can tailor a plan correctly for a woman.:)

No experience with him, but Peter Kern of pb3 coaching is in the Dublin area... http://www.pb3coaching.com/

tunney

Nwm2 wrote: »

No experience with him, but Peter Kern of pb3 coaching is in the Dublin area... http://www.pb3coaching.com/

Normally I have nothing good to say about anyone

But Peter is a top notch guy, knows his stuff.

Helped me out a good few times. He gave me the name "Dave Tummy" too. Only once has he called me "Dave Tunney", followed by "Don't loose any more weight". Was on cloud nine for a week after that.

He even has a sense of humour, which is amazing considering he is German. Although I suspect he got fvcked out of Germany for not being German enough.

Seriously though, a good guy and agood coach

Izoard

tunney wrote: »

Normally I have nothing good to say about anyone

But Peter is a top notch guy, knows his stuff.

Helped me out a good few times. He gave me the name "Dave Tummy" too. Only once has he called me "Dave Tunney", followed by "Don't loose any more weight". Was on cloud nine for a week after that.

He even has a sense of humour, which is amazing considering he is German. Although I suspect he got fvcked out of Germany for not being German enough.

Seriously though, a good guy and agood coach

He once told me I needed to loose "at least 20kg" before considering attempting an IM.
He was right, of course, but I've ignored his sage words so far....

peter kern

I was actually looking for how the Bike transport to austria is developing...
Thanks for the flowers... for one that likes me 2 hate me ....

What I actually want to say is that I do not agree that an athlete would not have to end up doing his her sessions alone working with an coach, for most athletes it makes sense to train in a club and often i would only tell people what intensity to do at a club sessions (this is where most go wrong in my mind, especially when triathletes train with runners in the winter who prepare for cross country races) . For me its not that important what session one does its more important how a session is done and and while iam mostly not an advocate of 8 x 800 run intervals in the winter it can be a great part of a session .
Often training in a group is very positive and then one can adapt the sessions that are done alone according to the group sessions.
what does it help if the athletes does the best sessions but burns out from training alone all the time (of course sometimes you need to do 180 bike rides on your own)
Especially in the pool I would say I want athletes to swim people as often as possible in a club I just tell them to stay longer and do a proper session as most club swims are way to short but I also see a few clubs doing nice stuff ;-0
At the end it really depends totally on the athletes character and time frame whats best and some people train better on their own but many train better in a group environment where they have some fun, as well ,the only thing thats important is the END RESULT or the black and white as i call it .
But the difference between coaching and "coaching" ie pre written plans ( marketed as "specific sessions")is that a coach can adapt to the needs and wishes of an athlete. If a coach cant, I would stay away from that coach or pay not much money as this is not coaching.( at least in my mind )

What i always see is people come to me for a program and then are surprised that I dodnt give them a program as i much more tell them what they need to learn to train better and what to do when x y and c happens.
A greatly planned out session can be very wrong if you had a very stressful day at work , the kids are ill at home etc. doing a key session as planed on a day like this can be plain wrong . So i prefer my athletes to learn what to do in different situations.

I can use a weekly template of a program 10 -15 weeks in a row and just try to do each week better and better and how to adapt to real life. I think there is a coach that has 28 world champ titles and most people know that tuesday is 30 x800 track session or another coach you know friday is 20 x100 in the pool as main set
As I say i dont believe its that important what you train its more important to do it right and each week a bit more right and the duration is not too short ( of course i have ideas what needs to be done but my general principle is so simple that i have to be thankful for all those people that try to make triathlon complicated )

I think i have only ever coached one athlete where i was able to entirely predict what would happen with his body ( but then i never knew what his mind would do ... ;-)
To tell the truth many of the more talented athletes I have coached did not reach their potential as they overthink and dodnt let go, and thats maybe my main job as a coach to make people understand to keep it simple. and more often than not I fail ( and trust me I did not get that right when i was a triathlete myself ....... )
I had a very good athlete last year that got a 15 week run program from one of the worlds best coaches. I knew the athelte would get injured but athelte wanted to foolow that specific progam to the T, week 7 stress fracture. In my mind specifically planned ;-) again it was a great specific plan in theory.....



When I hear the word specific Training in 8 out of 10 cases I feel like to cry ...Its the worst marketing word i have come accress, as if our body was a system tha only improves if you run 8 x800 at 3,17 and if you do 6 x 1000 hard when you or if tired a bit slower you are lost ;-)


To me specific is when an athletes takes it easy on a wednesday duathlon and comes 2nd and then beats the guy buy 8 min on saturday in the triathlon ;-) then i see my client with 500 euro price money vs 175 euro price money for the Wednesday star . Still the same sessions done ;-) ie take it easy when easy is right go hard when hard is right .
when I hear that a client brings to pair bike shoes to an Ironman as not sure which one is better . I know most likely nothing will come out of that race as this is over specific......to think about bike shoes on race week. or wheels etc etc .

Of course many ways lead to Rome
just my 2 cents.
but right now I have a waiting list (sorry) so and dodnt have to write BS promo stuff ;-)

ps the other thing how good you are also dosnt matter to get a coach.
I think everybody that really wants to improve can get a coach if they want. Given Equal talent I bet my mortgage that the guy that has a decent coach beats the guy that splashes out on gear 9 out of 10 times. Most people learn skiing with a coach or to drive and if you start proper at the beginning you can avoid the pitfalls that many make.
If you are lazy and "just' ( dodnt get me wrong as I love it when people do sport) want to train and have fun than you dodnt need a coach. Likewise if you dodnt want to listen to a coach .....
I think it is great to have a coach in the first year of tri than practice what you have learned and that go back to a coach when you come the the more nity grity stuff.
The only thing you have to ask yourself do you want to make the investment and that answer nobody can give you. As an athlete I go the pb3 coaching charges are insane,fr as the coach I go, why do I work for close to minimum salary with some athletes and why i am not as smart as the specific mass program sellers ;-)

CazP

Appreciate all the feed back and help. Particular thanks to Peter for his candid and informative post. Have been looking around Dublin and have come across these guys http://www.reformdublin.ie/index.php/reformcoaching/team/

so might give them a try and report back in a few months and let eveyrbody know how I get on