To be Coached or Not to be Coached?

Since starting my journey into the world of triathlon 5 years ago, I have had a coach for the majority of that time. Only taking a break for 6 weeks after the birth of my daughter. However with the cost of living crisis in full swing; as a family we have had to cut down on non-essential expenditure, and one of the items on the list was my coach. I have now completed 2 weeks of being ‘coach-less’ and although there were initial feelings of nervousness and worrying that progress would be lost, I am starting to see some positives of being coach-less.

 Positives of Having a Coach

• Accountability - that feeling that your coach is always watching! It adds extra impetus to get you out of bed early, or finish a session strong

• Cheerleader - Someone is always in your corner fighting for you, even on those days when you don’t feel very positive yourself

• Realism - it can be very easy to get carried away with hopes and dreams, a coach will help refine these and make sure they are achievable

• Planning - as a busy person, not having to plan each individual session is a huge time saver and one less thing to think about

• Structure - a coach will ensure each day, week and month builds in a structured way to meet your goal

• Knowledge - your coach often has a huge wealth of experience and knowledge to draw on in setting your sessions

Positives of being Coach-less

• Flexibility - Life often throws a curve-ball and so being able to be flexible with your planned session can be a real benefit which is often difficult when your session is pre-set

• Mental growth - You have to be your own cheerleader and develop the mental resolve to get yourself moving

• Choice - Being able to choose to do races, social rides or unplanned sessions on a whim without needing to check in with your coach first

• Self-Knowledge - Find out what you really are capable of, you know yourself better than anyone else

• Variety - Change sessions up as you feel like rather than repeating similar sessions, there are lots of plans and sessions out there for free to try out and see what works for you

I’m still a long way off drawing a conclusion on which method I like best but it doesn’t have to be a one or the other choice. There are plenty of free workouts and programs out there or a more hybrid coaching experience that offers a bit of both worlds. I am going to explore some of these opportunities over the next few weeks but I have particularly enjoyed trying out some different turbo sessions though still having the similar weekly focus that I am used to; a strength-based session, a high intensity interval session and endurance rides.