Wow, that looks amazing!
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Im not on their forum much as its not as active as others but in my experience Frank and a few of the other coaches are fairly quick in responding there from what I have seen, however I would like more than 2x a month for their premium pricing.
Just to echo many of the points made here…
I went from TR to an in-person coach. He’s a former conti-level racer, and works as a bike fitter and part time in the LBS. For what he offers, he’s exceptionally good value; for £80/month, he sets the training, and responds by text to any queries I have during the month. Once a month we have a coffee together and have a 15-20 minute chat.
Much of the training isn’t revelatory. The volume is a little higher than TR, and typically there is only 1 ‘hard’ interval session a week (but that session is usually pretty horrendous - he’s a fan of shorter rest periods and longer durations than most TR intervals) but the overall schematic is broadly similar.
I’m fairly confident that my results would be similar on a correctly adapted TR plan, but the advice on tap (on eating, making changes if I feel ill/strong etc, equipment) and his knowledge of and links to the local and national racing scene have been hugely valuable.
Periodically, I do think that I could save a decent chunk of money and use TR, but then something happens where I’m reminded that it’s hugely useful to have someone to bounce ideas off and ask for help. It also means the LBS always fit my bike in within 2-3 days for work, as well, which is a nice bonus, even though it’s not an official perk.
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Similar situation here, went from TR to coach.
Biggest change was being able to do 2.5-3 times the volume, while still feeling less fatigued. I also also have 1-2 hard sessions a week, one can be super duper hard, whereas the other one might be 3-4 tempo cadence intervals.
Personally it has been very very fun having someone knowledgeable being able to look at my training as a whole, see what I respond better or worse to but also someone to hold ones hand throughout the journey.
For me cycling is something I want to do for the rest of my life (knock on wood), so I am here for the long term sustainability of my training.
Also, the best thing with having a coach is the adjustability when you get sick, lots of stuff at work, or other things in life that happens, and how he manages to awesomely incorporate training into that schedule.
I love it and wouldn’t trade it for anything, especially the accountability when I know someone is gonna look at my ride power afterwards.
Here are the prices for my coaches services (I am based in Sweden and they are in Slovenia):
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I’ve had the exact opposite experience. He doesn’t respond to questions but does post other things, so it’s not lack of activity, it’s lack of response to customers.
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Wow. Those are great prices with a high level of interactivity.
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Yeah, and they have great experience, are nice people, do lots of lab research and is very science focused, which I love.
It somehow feels better knowing that they’re not just a genetically gifted rider that wanna make some extra bucks, but are actually people in the scientific community, contributing to it, while also coaching.
In Sweden prices are twice as high, for half the interaction. And most of the time the sessions have no physiological background to them, just “this is hard, so its gonna make you faster”.
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I must admit I’ve been struck by the prices that many ‘name’ coaches charge for what I’d perceive as the relatively low amount of time involved. Sure, people at the top of their game are expensive in any field, but there seem to be an awful lot of fairly limited services offered for over £200 a month in the UK.
I think the keys are:
- Shop around
- Look at reviews and client feedback
- Ask questions by email and potentially ask about an initial chat by Zoom/phone
- If you find someone you like, potentially negotiate about a longer term sign up, paid upfront, in return for a better rate.
Ultimately, I’d be looking for good communication, a willingness to explain, and a sense of active monitoring. I often don’t think the training needs to be that special or different for most people, but monitoring progression, keeping a close enough eye to tell someone to pull back, managing disruptions when real life gets a bit messy, etc - that’s what you pay for IMO.
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I had a coach for a season of racing. I hired him pretty early (or, soon after the season before ended) so he would have time to work with. I found him through TP, but he is a local to me coach. He was able to suggest group rides/Worlds and such for workouts, though that was rare.
I had never done anything structured before so I don’t honestly know how much he was tailoring things to me, but it sure felt like it. I definitely got stronger during that time. And the plans definitely felt like they were built for me (I ride 20 hours a week). His riding is very similar to my own.
I “fired” (quit?) him at the end of the season because I met my goals, but I was satisfied and felt like I got what I paid for.
If I were to do coaching again, I would probably try to hire him again. If I had to go elsewhere, I would try to find someone who rides like me and is local enough to at least know the region.
I had an internet coach that I met through word of mouth. We worked together for almost 3 years, a number of years back.
I got a monthly calendar that was restructured when I changed my races, etc. Over the 3 years, the plan changed little, but that’s because there really aren’t any secrets to success. Some coaches will give you cutesy workouts and schemes, but that is not necessary to build a strong aerobic engine. It’s a long process of putting in the work. Nothing against that stuff if you like it, but it’s not necessary.
I don’t have a coach anymore (stopped racing a few years ago and dropped the coach with it) but still follow the general principles of what I did back then. My coach at the time was around $125/mo (way less than other coaches a looked into at the time).
My point is that you shouldn’t be put off by getting some seemingly ‘canned’ workouts. They all are like that basically. You need to decide what training scheme you want to subscribe to and then find a coach that you trust.
A local coaches benefit (IMO) is to teach you how to race (in person). Racing bikes (strategically) and being a fit athlete are two different things. You don’t need the local coach to learn to race, but I did wish I had them around to watch me race and provide real time feedback. I don’t think their presence would have made any different in terms of the training tho.
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Hired my first coach in September after 15 years of self-coaching myself. TrainerRoad was a big part of me getting to where I am now, while I kind of did my own thing swimming and running. I did pretty well but the last couple years I seem to have plateaued, so I figured bringing in outside help would be a good idea. I first ran into my current coaching group at a couple triathlons I did early last Summer and talked with some of their athletes. All were very positive and also seemed to have a decent community as well. So after the season I contacted them and while a bit more than I wanted to spend ($250/mo) the coaching outfit (3 coaches total) is local, my coach responds to texts/e-mails really quickly, I meet him for coffee or a video call once a month, he reads all my notes in TP and will tweak my plan if he notices in my comments that I could use more rest or could handle more volume.
So overall I have yet to have any races while having been trained by them (I did win a smaller sprint race 4 weeks after I started with them so I’m going to still attribute that to coach Michael_Tate), but I am feeling much faster overall and think I’m already starting to break through that plateau.
At the end of the day, $250/mo comes out to $3,000 a year. I could spend that on a disc wheel and save 30 seconds on my Ironman time, or I could spend it on coaching and go to the next level.
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Exactly. Only so many ways you can do a long Z2 or tempo ride. The key to a good coach is knowing if you should be doing 3hr or 2hr on any particular day depending on how you are performing and feeling over the last couple weeks. I get absolutely “canned” workouts from my coach, but I know the workouts while generic are picked out specifically for me in my current state. That’s the important part.
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Completely agree. The most frequent questions I get from my coach are “how did that workout feel?” and “how are you feeling?” She only gives me a week of workouts at a time as she wants me focusing on one week at a time. And also one of the huge benefits with having a coach is I have a lot of races grouped together so it’s much easier to have her work out the best way to get me recovered for the next race.
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I haven’t read the entirety of this thread … but you are a mirror image of me.
My 2c - if money is no object, call Steve Neal.
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What ended up happening? Did you get a coach? If so, how has your experience been?
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I had a coach from a name brand coaching service at 200 quid a month over the internet. I did well considering my extremely average abilities, but I did equally well the next year just following Graeme Obree’s simple training methodology as outlined in his book. 4 workouts and a bit of common sense.
If I were to get another coach it would be local with proper meet-ups etc.
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I’ve had 2 personal coaches (from companies mention above) and just moved on to my third. The first two really didnt seem worth the money to me. I was getting custom plans, but they just didnt seem to result in any real leaps in fitness over doing a pre-made plan. I was pretty much was done with hiring coach after the first two expensive mistakes. What made me give it another go? Well I did Tim Cusicks Basecamp over the winter and had a measurable gain in fitness coming into spring. So much so, I decided to continue on with one of his coaches into the summer. Basecamp allows you to have semi custom plans over the winter AND have unlimited coaching support for questions and education. You really get a good feel for the Velocious coaching approach and why you are doing each workout. You get exposed to multiple coaches and con interact with them via FB to get a good feel if you are compatible with them. Prior to hiring one of their coaches, they set up phone interviews with multiple coaches so you really can make sure you get the right one. Doing basecamp was the best training decision Ive done and feel confident that the coach it led to is a great match for me. Highly recommend giving it a try.
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I don’t think the main advantage to having a human coach has been mentioned yet - being able to off-load all of the stress/worry/thought about the plan, fitness, future events, day-to-day variation to someone else and just focus on the work. Maybe you’re a person for whom this is not even on the radar, but I bet there are a lot of people out there who think about it a lot, research it, spend a ton of time making small changes to plans, etc. I got a coach, and now I don’t have to think about it at all - just look at what’s on the schedule for the next couple of days and let the someone else take care of the rest. Listening to pros talk about their training, you’ll frequently hear similar statements - “I don’t even look at the numbers” types of statements. I didn’t understand stuff like that previously, but now I get it 1000%.
The overall structure of training plans are going to be incredibly similar from a 30k foot view if you’re really honest about it - some intensity, not too much, push the limits for volume. Just because a coach gives you a plan that might look like TR’s, your friend’s, or the coach’s other athletes’ plans doesn’t mean you aren’t getting your money’s worth in other ways.
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So, I never got a coach. I talked with a few good ones, but I figured I can do a lot of research and while I may not be quite as good as an awesome coach, getting that awesome coach wasn’t a guarantee unless I was willing to spend more money than I wanted.
That said, self coached I have been able to raise my FTP from 295 (when I asked the question) to 308, while at the same time losing 4% body fat. So I’m sitting at around 4.3 w/kg. Not amazing, but not so bad either. Better yet I’m able to hold my ftp longer and repeatability has gone up.
I’m sure the right coach would be able to do more. But again, would I find the right one?
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I replied before reading this. But it makes a lot of sense. I think to get there though, you have to really trust that coach. And that takes some time.
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