After a long layoff this year with a slipped disc I am considering getting a coach in the new year to make the most of my training time.

Has anyone here used a coach? What did you pay, what did you get and was it worth it?

I have a reasonable idea about the principals of training, but I think I will benefit from being accountable to someone, especially if I am paying them.

I am expecting to get some p1ss taking for this one…

I had a coach for some training plans when I was timetrialling. As you say, it helped me get the most out of limited time available, but it took a lot of the fun out of riding my bike as it wasn't easy to move the sessions about too much – if its a nice day you just wanna go and ride your bike for a couple of hours, but the plan might be to do a short tough session.

Depends what you want, if you are training for a race/event then go for it, if you just wanna go faster/get fitter then maybe swap plans with a mate and report back on how you are going to said mate – this will help the accountability part of it.

Good luck

For info, I paid circe £100 for a 3 month plan with no feedback – just answering a few queries as I go.

I am actually racing on the road and less seriously off road but I can see your point about taking the fun out of it.

If you really want to take out the fun then try the Charmichael time crunched plan. All hard work all the time.

Best thing I ever did using a coach… lucky to have a friend that is a coach so I can't comment on costs.

Takes the hard work out of figuring what you should be doing so you can concentrate on doing it.

Would recommend rather than just use a training plan that you make most of having a coach and have a decent level of contact… your workouts may need to be tailored when life gets in the way of training or your health isn't 100%.

Pretty sure BCF have a list of coaches and its just finding one that works the best for you… location is irrevelant I think in this day and age of good communication links.

I've had a coach for 2 years now. Amazing improvement to racing, amazing loss of any social riding in my life.

Joking aside its worth it if you're competing or have a big goal.

I had one for years, I think it's important to find one who shares your approach, and appreciates what you want to achieve, there are some people I certainly wouldn't be coached by, but who work well for others.

I was paying £40 a month, for as much feedback as I wanted, analysis of ride data etc. The trouble I found was that after a couple of years he wasn't really teaching me anything, I was telling him what I was going to do, and using a Power Tap and some decent analysing software it makes it pretty easy to see what needs improving and whether it's working.

So… good in some respects, but less in others. I think most people can learn a lot from a good coach though.

I benefitted massively from the guidance of Matt Hart at Torq over a 3 year period.

I had a days assessment with him Dec 2006 after doing transwales and deciding that stage racing was the thing for cuddly 78kg me, based on his input i made my own plan up and did transportugal in 2007 without dying.
Then got serious at the rate of £130 for each 6 month block of training plans (which invariably resulted in a sharp intake of breath when they arrived in the inbox) over the next 2 years. Basically I systematically got thinner (rather lean 69kg by the end) and a lot faster. I did get pissed off with riding in given heart rate zones at an early stage, but then really got into the process of training and going faster.

1 year old daughter has changed priorities significantly but I learnt a huge amount about how to structure training and get maximum reward from the effort I was able to put in, far more so than reading various books and trying to work it all out for myself.

Its a relatively inexpensive way of going faster, 1 year of coaching will cost you a lot less than a fancy pair of wheels and make a bigger difference.

Matthew

Matthew
I already have 2 kids and I did the living and breathing training thing a few years ago when I was a triathlete. I am riding with my local road club and racing for them at cat 4 level and doing some mountainbike races from time to time. I can draw up as training plan if I spend the time on it, but I think what I would benefit from the most is having someone looking over my shoulder.
The nice thing about road racing is that you either make it with the group or your don't there is no hiding in the middle of the results table like there is an a mountainbike race or a tri.

I think I'll try to find out what it's going to cost me and then see if I can get permission from the wife. Then again if we move house as planned, there will be no decision to make 😐

The nice thing about road racing is that you either make it with the group or your don't there is no hiding in the middle of the results table like there is an a mountainbike race or a tri.

That's the exact opposite of what I'd say, you can win a road race by knowing what you're doing and being in the right place at the right time, you're never going to excel in mountain bike racing, or indeed triathlon, unless you're very fit.

Used one for surfing (head coach of the British team), not for cycling.

Doing a tri on 26th with a road bike – first ever race on one. I fear humiliation…

You'll be fine, there are plenty of people at triathlons just having a punt, the time splits between the top and the bottom are vast.

If it's a flat course consider some clip on tri-bars if you've not got any, definitely an advantage to be gained there.

I've used a coach for a few years now and it really does make a difference.

I train with a power meter on both my road and MTB bikes and use a Computrainer for the indoor stuff, which is mainly for intervals or when the weather is really bad.

At the end of each training session I upload my data to my coach, we discuss the results via Skype and then set the next weeks training. We use TrainingPeaks WKO for analysis and Ergvideo for the indoor bad weather workouts.

Cost is around $1000 for 3 months.

The biggest benefits are maximising the return in performance gain for your time investment and keeping me 'honest' with the training. With power meter data there's no hiding.

Do you not find that with the power data there's much less 'point' in having a coach though? I found that, I was telling him what I was going to do based on the feedback from the power meter, particularly with WKO3, all the information is right there for you to analyse.

At first it was good to discuss it, to see where the weak spots were, but you can see what needs doing, and I think there's a risk of only doing what is prescribed, when your body may be telling you otherwise.

Over $300/month too, fair play to you!

njee – it's b4stard hilly. Hoping that might help as I like climbing.

Now, do I wear socks or not? Wearing tri shorts (no top) for the sea swim, cycle and run will add a top and shoes. Another first. The tri shorts certainly aren't pretty…!

Tri-suit ftw, no faffing with tops.

I didn't wear socks when I did one for fear of ridicule, even over the 5k run I got blisters, I can't run for sh1t anyway, but think the 10 seconds I'd have lost putting socks on would have been recouped by not having blisters! I would next time, although I wouldn't worry on the bike, gives your feet a chance to dry off, particularly if you put talcum powder in your cycling shoes, then you're not struggling with socks on wet feet.

I don't think I can justify $333 per month!

njee20. I am not a super athlete, but I have ridden for many years. I am never going to be near the front at a mountainbike race here in Denmark, there are usually 2 or 3 current and ex national champions turning up to the races I enter becuase there aren't that many going on. I am happy with my mid pack performances there. However, on the road, there is nothing mor humiliating than getting dropped out the back of the lowest cat races. That is what I want to avoid at worst and at best I want to get from Cat 4 (D) to cat 3 (C) next season assuming my back holds out. I can ride with the cat 4s but I need to be getting top 10s to progress.
That is where I need the help. I am working on a training plan at the moment based on the Friel training bible and I will probably mix it up with some of Charmichaels time crunched plans to up the intensity in the lateer spring.
I don't have a power meter and I can't justify one either, I also don't have a computrainer, but I do use a turbo trainer a lot during our neverendingly long Scandinavian winter.

njee20

I find that what works best for me is to be told what to do and then do it. Obviously, this requires a good relationship with your coach and a reliance on the data.

I really prefer to just concentrate on getting the most from the riding rather than have to work out what to do for myself. My coach is able to train my physiology to fill in the performance gaps, whether than be sprinting, climbing or endurance far more accurately than I can.

I also have a tendency to default to what I like to do rather than what I should do.

As others have said, having a coach does impact on social riding. I turn down social rides because I'm scheduled a day off or because I should be doing an hour of intervals rather than a 5 hour MTB ride.

As for the cost, it's about the same as a couple of Ventis in Starbucks each day and the performance gains are much better value for money than any bike upgrade!

National express is a cheap way to get around but for some reason there are always nuns amongst the passengers and they don't sell beer.

Interesting topic guys and may I make a small hi-jack

I've been racing for the first time this year and love it. It has completely changed the way I think about riding my bike, I’d like to think that I’m now “training” rather than just riding.

I’ve got some books (Friel etc) an HRM and probably getting a Turbo for the winter… But at this stage would some more formal instruction be of benefit to me? Do you wish that you had a trainer early in your racing “career”?

Charmichaels

He wrote the Lance Armstrong training book which is quite good as it does a lot of 30-40min sessions which most of us could integrate with a commute or replace with a turbo session on rainy days.

3 x 8 week 'plans' ; beginner (been off injured, or you've only ridden once a week for a while) , intermediate (probably most 'serious' cyclists) , advanced (you regulalry race).

One plan feeds into the next if you just want to get faster in a general way. But the rest of the book is full of excercises and adaptations to make them more specific to your goal's or weaknesses.

For arround a tenner you can't go wrong, I still dip back into it once in a while, usualy try and do the intermediate program before each summer.

Me, I'm just happy commuting into work (6.8miles each way) and doing that as quickly as possible (5min warmup in zone 2, 5 min in zone 3, 5 min in zone 4, zone 5 for as long as possible and really pushing it up hills keeping pace with trafic as much as possible). Then working on endurance at the weekend (3-4hour rides in zone 3, zone 4 on hills).

If you can run to a power meter rather than using HRM, I'd recommend reading Training and Racing With A Power Meter.

I use Ergomo on my MTB and it has been really robust and compares very well with my Computrainer Lab model.

Check out Online Bike Coach too.

Ergomo went bust, so that's out. The cheapest is a Polar CS600, but they're not that accurate. I definitely agree that power does make training a lot better, you can really see improvements in your performance, and see where you need to improve. You can hire Power Taps if you fancy seeing what they're like/don't want to splash out on one, particularly if you don't have unlimited funds like Rip 🙂

road racing is a type of event that you can 'hide' in. in mtb or tri its all your own effort and you'll come where your true abilty and quality of field dictates.
if i could go back 25 years i'd advise myself to get a coach when i started racing. it would have avoided a lot of time wasting and improved my results. however, i might well have packed in racing as that approach would take a lot of pleasure out riding. if racing and results are what matter most to you then get a good coach and go for it.

Bit of a left field suggestion but how about going on a course to become a coach at British Cycling. A teacher I had suggested once you knew how to teach someone something then you truly understood it. Ergo by becoming a coach you will be able to train yourself much more effectivly and the courses are around £200 ago with three to complete so the price wont be too much different to a few months coaching anyhow.

Iain

Njee20

Ergomo are back in business with an updated model.

I also have a full Ergomo MTB kit for sale if anyone would like it.

I'm not sure coaching is for everyone. I know people who have gone faster since they started looking after themselves.

I think that's a problem, people can be blinkered by what they're being told, because a coach knows what they're talking about, but only you know how you feel, there's a vast amount of merit in knowing when to sack off an interval session or have another rest day because it's just not happening.

I'd be interested to use a power meter on the MTB just to see what sort of wattages one puts out, but I can't see that you can really train by power off road. Out of interest… how does the new Ergomo work then? Half the problem with it was that it relied on a chainset with separate BB, which no one uses any more. I can't see anything about a relaunch online.

Rip, have you done the Merida Marathon in DK? Curious to know what kinda time you'd do for that with expert coaching behind you.

I did it last year as my first race since my teens and got blown away by the shear pace of the mid pack, let alone the guys that won it!

njee20

It's not about training with power off road. You get fit and stronger by NOT riding. Riding the bike makes you weaker. It's the rest that makes you strong. It's all about adaptation.

The reason for a power meter on every bike is so that your Acute and Critical training loads are accurately calculated which then means your training stress balance tells you when to not ride and hence get fitter.

Having said that, the power meter on my MTBs is great for doing hill intervals in a more interesting environment than the road. However, I'll agree that the bulk of the concentrated training effort is best done on the road or CT.