Making the decision to be coached directly for a major triathlon competition, or even just the next season, is a big step and requires considerable consideration. You might have just signed up for your first Ironman event and are a little scared about the prospect of taking on this huge task by yourself, or you might already be a seasoned Olympic Distance or Half Ironman Distance athlete who needs steering in the right direction this season to see your results soar. Choosing to have your training regime monitored and critiqued on a regular basis by a qualified coach is one of the best things you can do to help improve your performance and also keep you motivated towards your goals. Here are a few tips on the types of things you should bare in mind when signing up for one of The TEAM CORE's coaching options:
Exactly what do you hope to achieve this season or for your next big event? Consider working with the anagram “S.M.A.R.T.E.R” to help you plan out your goals before speaking with the coach:
“S” is for specific – what exactly do you want to achieve? Do you want to simply complete an event or do you have a goal time in mind?;
“M” is for measurable – can you set a marker against which you will try and set your targets? A top-10 finish? A sub-60 mins 40km TT?;
“A” is for adjustable – despite your very best intentions and that of your coaches, things don’t always go according to plan. Is there room for adjustment in your goals if necessary?;
“R” is for realistic - can you realistically expect to achieve your goal(s) given your current level of fitness?;
“T” is for time based – when do you plan to start working towards your goal? How far away is your goal event? Does this fit in with the suggested time frame for your goal event?;
“E” is for exciting– taking on the challenge of an event like the Ironman requires serious commitment and dedication. This doesn’t need to overwhelm your life and we firmly believe that establishing balance in your training / social / family circle is key when planning for an event. One of the best ways of doing this is to keep your program exciting and enjoyable with short-term goals to keep you “on the ball” and motivated;
“R” is for recorded – one of the processes of working with us is to identify your goals, write them down and have a permanent reminder of these goals everyday through our online training diary. This is a superb way of keeping in touch with the coach and allowing for adjustments in your program to be made where necessary. If you don’t record and communicate your progress with us, how can we know what changes to make?
Some people are happy enough to go from one season to the next without clearly identified goals or knowing which races they should and shouldn’t be doing. It is perfectly fine to race season-in, season-out, however, by clearly having a start and end point to each season based around a key event or several key races is critical for keeping you motivated and on track. When you sign up for a program with us, we will ask you very clearly “when do you want the program to start and finish?” Use the guidelines below for our suggested program length based upon your goal race:
Sprint Distance / Novice Triathlon: 8 to 12 weeks
Olympic Distance Triathlon: 12 to 18 weeks
Half Ironman Distance: 16 to 24 weeks (longer if peaking for multiple events during the year)
Ironman Distance: 20 to 26 weeks*
*some athletes taking on an Ironman for the first time may feel that they need longer than 26 weeks to prepare for such an event. If you have +12 months experiencing of regular, consistent training for any triathlon distance, 26 weeks is ample. Any more and you may run the risk of “burn out”. The # 1 goal for anyone participating in their first Ironman should simply be to finish.
Not every great athlete makes a good coach, nor does every coach suit every type of athlete. With The TEAM CORE's unique collection of expert coaches, you can be assured that we have worked with a great number of athletes of varying ability and have always catered well to their needs and demands. When you entrust your whole race season to that one coach, you are going to need the quality that our coaching staff provides to bring you results.
It is our belief that to be good at what we do, we need to have a good grounding in 3 essential areas of qualification:
EDUCATION - all our coaches are educated to tertiary-level or above in applied Sports & Exercise Science and / or Physiology which ensures that the level of expertise that you receive is cutting-edge. We don't however rest on the laurels of degrees obtained in the past, moreso we ensure that through our own diligent research your needs are always catered for. Take for example our article on training and racing with new technology and you'll see how we're very effectively applying our knowledge to the real world.
EXPERIENCE - it is our belief that to be effective as a coach in this sport you must have experienced it first-hand. All our coaches have represented their respective countries at internationl competition at both age-group and elite levels. In doing so, you can be assured that we really do "practice what we preach!"
EMPATHY - how often have you heard that elite athletes make "lousy coaches" because they are out-of-touch with the reality of 'normal 9-to-5 living' of professional people with families? What makes our approach unique is that "we get it", we know what its like as we've lived on "both sides of the fence". We know what is realistic and what is not, but equally we know how to best optimize the precious amout of time you have to train.
We live, sleep and breathe triathlon and would like to think that we have a pretty good grasp on what it takes to make you fitter and faster and to enjoy the whole process along the way.
We believe that everyday we learn something new about the sport or one of its many associated ‘disciplines’, e.g. nutrition, strength training etc. We don’t claim to be an expert in all areas of triathlon, but I would always ask you to challenge us with your questions and queries. If we can’t answer them immediately, you can bet your bottom dollar that we’ll source the answer from one of our many friends, colleagues and contacts within the sport.
Its true to say that you will get as much out of one of our programs as you put into it. Most people’s determination and commitment once having signed up and paying for a program is unquestionable. However, consider this: as a coach (sometimes operating remotely from you) we can only provide a critique of your program in order to maximize the progress of your training if you have provided ample feedback on a daily or weekly timeframe of how you are progressing yourself. In the past, utilising things like MS Word or Excel to write a program wasn’t ideal – it took a lot of time, wasn’t particularly user-friendly and didn’t provide ample means for you the athlete to feedback how you were progressing. Hence the recent decision to switch over to the excellent online coaching service of www.trainingpeaks.com which essentially offers a secure area or webpage for each of our athletes to view their very own training program and then provide feedback in a set easy-to-use format. This can be done every day, or at the end of every week, and even allows you to upload your own training data files for simple communication with the coach. Its so easy it’s a wonder why every coach isn’t using it! Our User Guide provides full details on how to use your account once activated and if you ever have any questions about the software’s functionality, we’ll be able to answer them for you. Together with Training Peaks we are excited to now be able to take our coaching to a whole new level – we hope you’ll join in on that with us!
