Professional cyclists and triathletes
typically hire coaches. This makes sense
as their career and income depend on their results. Paying someone to help them be successful is
good business. But what about recreational
and amateur athletes who hire coaches – what is the rationale there? For an aspiring amateur wanting to get to the
professional level, coaching just makes sense.
However, many athletes who purchase custom coaching through Peaks Coaching Group
are avid cyclists/enthusiasts with no intention of racing let alone ever
attempting to become a pro. Many don’t
even consider themselves athletes. They
may just want to keep up with their fellow cyclists on group rides, participate
in a local or regional triathlon, compete in or just complete a gran fondo. In many cases, they have no aspirations of entering,
much less winning, a race. So why would
an amateur athlete invest good money in a custom coaching program when there is
absolutely no financial reward?
To answer this we have to look at the
reasons why these amateur athletes participate in their chosen sport. While not
pros , most athletes who hire a coach are very committed to their chosen sport,
often giving it a priority in their lives only behind family and jobs in importance.
They are very invested in their sport as
evidenced by the hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars they invest in
training and equipment. If athletes are
willing to commit this much time and money to their sport, doesn’t it make
sense for them to invest in their own “motor”, which will have greater impact
on their results than equipment ever can?
There are a number of benefits that an amateur athlete can gain through
coaching. Let’s take a look at them:
Time: Most amateur athletes have time
constraints such as full-time jobs, families and other obligations. They certainly
can’t devote large blocks of time during the week and even on weekends training
like the pros do. So they need to get the most of out their limited training
time. Additionally, because of their other obligations, their recovery
time is also limited and may be impeded by work and family obligations. Also, because of their busy lives, they may
not have time to develop their own training plans.
Expertise, Knowledge and Technology: Amateur athletes typically do not have the
knowledge and tools to create a scientifically sound training regimen. One
alternative to coaching is to buy a pre-built training plan, but the athlete
would need to know enough to adjust it specific to their own situation.
Analyzing data from workouts is an area where a coach typically has far more education
and experience than a self-coached athlete.
As new methods and devices become available (heart rate monitors, power
meters, GPS computers, motion sensors, software tools), the amount of data
collected on a simple ride can be overwhelming. A coach can help sort through
and identify the critical pieces of data to examine.
Interest level: While some very
motivated athletes are fully capable of designing a workable training plan for
themselves, others are not. Even those
that are, often choose to hire a coach simply because they don’t want to invest
the time (see Time above) and energy in coming up with a plan. They would
rather let someone else do the planning for them so they can focus on training
and following the plan. When the coach takes on the responsibility of crafting
the plan, the athlete can get back to doing what they like doing (riding their
bike and training) rather than doing something that they have to do (creating a
custom training plan).
Accountability: This is a big
one. Often amateur athletes need some accountability for remaining on
task and following the plan , especially for busy folks or those lacking
discipline. A coach provides that accountability. For the athlete, knowing
the coach will be taking a look to see if they followed the Training Plan as
prescribed provides much needed motivation at times.
Perspective: Another big one. Self-coached athletes tend to let their
emotions get in the way. A coach can be more objective and help the athlete
keep perspective when things aren’t going well.
A bad ride or an illness may seem like the end of the world to a
committed athlete while the coach can assure the athlete that it is only a
minor setback. A coach can also provide objective feedback on training
progress and provide positive feedback when the athlete is doing well and is
showing improvement. A coach evaluates and determines your actual strengths and
weaknesses and gets to know you on a very personal level.
Intensity and Recovery: As often
as not, a coach needs to help an athlete understand the importance of intensity,
which is a bit of a “double edged sword” in itself. Amateurs aren’t going to have the physical
capacity to handle professional level workloads so, workouts should be tailored
to the individual client’s needs. Recovery is too often downplayed significantly
by self-coached athletes. Self-coached
athletes tend not to push themselves hard enough when they should be training
hard. But then again, they don’t take
enough easy days (really easy) either. They tend to do most of their training
going moderately fast but never pushing the limits (which will lead to
improvement ) and then not allowing adequate rest and recovery (where that improvement
really occurs!).
Setting Achievable Goals & Measuring Progress: While a fair number of athletes coached through PCG do race, a
surprising number don’t – they just want to improve. This can create real challenges
for the athlete in measuring improvement.
The first step here is to assess the athletes current condition and with
their input determine achievable goals. A
coach can help them establish goals and in turn convert those goals into data points
without the need for race results. Using
speed, heart rate, power, cadence and now motion analysis, a wide range of
goals can be determined and metrics can be used to measure progress toward
those goals.
Coaching Bonuses: A coach looks at the complete fitness picture
and can schedule in mobility routines, appropriate warm-ups and cool-downs,
foam rolling, pedaling drills, strength training and even nutrition - aspects of
training that are very often forgotten by athletes who are too busy ‘training’,
when these can be important components of training as well. Something often overlooked is the positive
influence a good coach can offer by providing
encouragement and motivation, read “cheer leader” for an athlete.
Equipment and Ride Recommendations: Need a
new head unit , power meter or even a bike? Ask your coach for advice.
Looking to venture into giving gravel, mountain biking or CX (Cyclocross) a try
and don’t know where to begin? Want to give racing a try? Do you want to try an
endurance ride? Maybe just a medio, piccolo or gran fondo? Even a big group ride? A coach can help here
too.
Yes, coaching costs money, yet your time spent
on the bike can be made much more efficient.
Those new carbon wheels you just bought could have paid for a year or
more of coaching and you could be so much faster on your “old” wheels with
coaching. Over the long-haul, you may even
save money and time off of the bike by preventing overuse injuries.
If hiring a coach simply isn’t in your
budget, ask about other resources your coach can offer, like consulting which
could include goal setting, writing a custom training plan, or even just finding
the correct pre-built plan while you save up some money.
David Ertl is an Elite coach with Peaks Coaching Group. His Coaching Focus is on Road, MTB,CX,TT.
Find out more about David www.peakscoachinggroup.com/DavidErtl
Find out more about David www.peakscoachinggroup.com/DavidErtl
