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How can you choose a triathlon coach? What should you be looking for?

How can you choose a triathlon coach? What should you be looking for?

If you want to get started with triathlon training, it’s very important to have a great training plan, and you also need to stay consistent. These coaching services can be very effective, and they can provide you with exceptional results in the long term.

Do you really need an expert in triathlon coaching?

The short answer is yes, while you can try to create your own workout schedule and program, you don’t always have the necessary expertise. Instead, you want to work with professionals that are very good, reliable and who know how to take your entire training to the next level. Great triathlon coaches have their own methodology, and they will help guide through the entire process.

training peaks performance graph

The above graph shows the athlete getting fitter as they prepare for races at certain points in their Triathlon Calendar.  We manage your fitness, fatigue and load and we can even predict your finishing time for a race with software we use for mapping athletes performance.

triathlon fitness calculator

Additionally, a coach will help you stay consistent, and they will make you accountable as well for every session. When you start training on your own, it can be easy to be complacent. A coach will help you avoid that, and will offer all the guidance and support that you need. In the end, it will lead to a great outcome, and it’s safe to say that the results will be much better with a coach.

Are you ready to be coached?

That’s the thing, you may think it’s the time to find a triathlon coach, but not everyone is indeed ready. The thing you have to realise is that once you start working with a coach, you are removing any autonomy that you have. Instead, the coach will take over, and you need to follow their methodology and guidelines. Some people find it very difficult to follow their plans, and that’s the thing you must consider in these situations.

What are the benefits of hiring a triathlon coach?

If you are serious about getting fit and staying in a great shape for a triathlon event, then hiring a coach is a very good idea. Not only that, but working with a coach will bring some great benefits, like the ones below:

  • The coach will help with a personalised training plan. That will make it easier for you to make the most out of your training. You can focus on specific things which will allow you to improve and become better.
  • Getting triathlon coaching will also help you improve your nutrition and figure out what you can eat in order to boost your performance.
  • As mentioned earlier, a good training plan will always make it easy for you to stay consistent. A lot of the time, people don’t stay consistent and that doesn’t allow them to make the most out of their training. With a coach, you can do that and it leads to a much better result.
  • You will have a much lower risk of injury, since the coach will ensure you will not over train.
  • Once you work with a coach, you learn how to stay motivated and that will help make the experience a lot better. Your performance will also improve, since you get to stick with a dedicated plan created just for you.
  • Working with a coach means you have access to their expertise. Some coaches have been working in this niche for over 3 decades, maybe more. You can learn effective, comprehensive things that will help push your experience to the next level. In the end, that’s going to be very helpful, and it will help alleviate a lot of concerns.
  • Coaches can also bring flexibility and they will enhance the way you train. They will adapt the training plan to your growth and that will help make things a whole lot better. In the end, you will have improved results, just because there’s an expert near you, ready to offer the guidance and assistance you need.
  • A coach can also give you improvements when it comes to time management. That’s important, because you get to make the most out of your time, while also seeing great progress. Something like that would be hard to do otherwise.

How can you choose the best triathlon coaching services?

When you want to hire a coach, there are multiple things to focus on. Plus, every athlete has their own criteria and things they want to focus on. That alone can make it more difficult to find the right coach. But there are certain things to take into consideration, as you might expect. Here’s what you need to consider.

Go with a local coach if you are from the Blackburn Area

Ideally, you want to work with a local coach that offers you guidance and help if you are from the Blackburn area. Hiring a local coach is great because they will know the area you are from as well as the terrain and will also be available if face to face meet ups are needed to discuss training needs.  A great example of this is your Coach knowing Local Leisure Centre Facilities and opening times. There is no point having a swim session planned on Training Peaks Friday night at Blackburn Leisure Centre when it is family swim and Log Flumes!!

Blackburn Triathlon Coaching and Swimming Pool Opening Times

Search in multiple sources

You can initiate your search on Google, but at the same time, you also want to search on fitness websites and databases. Real coaches tend to have a great presence online these days, so it’s up to you to ensure that you can find the right person that can train you adequately and without any issues. The best rule of thumb here is to create a shortlist based on the things you are looking for. Don’t stick to just one or two persons at first, create a larger list and then you can narrow it down based on your requirements.

expensive triathlon coaching

Fees

Obviously, when you want to hire services like triathlon coaching in Blackburn, it’s important to check their fees. Why pay over £100 for a training plan that can be purchased elsewhere for nearly half the price. Knowing how much the coach will charge is extremely important. And as you can imagine, there’s a wide array of coaches, with different fees and costs. The best approach when it comes to something like this is to find a professional that fits your budget. But expensive coaches are not always the best and likewise, cheaper services are not always the worse. To be at your Peak, you will need to employ a respected coach and that is where PlanB Coaching in Blackburn will help you.

What are the qualifications of that coach?

It’s important to know the qualifications of your potential coach, their expertise and experience. Many people will try to boost their expertise and they could seem a lot better than you might think. And that’s not ok, if your focus is on hiring the best person for you. A lot of the time, the most important focus is to learn the qualifications and narrow down the best solution to fit your needs.

For example, some coaches are specialised in nutrition and strength coaching. Others will help you with swimming and cycling, specifically. There are clients that want a combination of all these things. But there are also people that want more specialized training. So in the end, it’s up to you to narrow down the best approach and ensure it fits your needs adequately.

Credentials and reviews

Whenever you want to hire a triathlon coach in the UK or in the Blackburn area, it’s very important to check for their credentials. Some coaches are very popular and well known locally. Others not as much, but they still have plenty of credentials. You want to see if/when the coach was accredited, what other certifications they have, etc.

Checking into who they trained and what results those people had is also just as important. It will give you confidence to work with a great coach that has really good credentials and who is proven to deliver an exceptional result. In the end, that’s what will give you the focus you need to push things onward.

And yes, you should also check online reviews for the coach as well. Reviews matter quite a bit these days. They can offer a good insight into what the coach can provide, and if someone encountered difficulties while working with them. It does help to see the different experiences other people had. And it comes in handy to see if there are any patterns that you must take into consideration. Once you study that, it will become easier to make the right choice.

What are your goals?

Before you choose any expert in triathlon coaching, you will need to figure out your goals. That’s because different coaches will be suitable for specific goals. Knowing what you want to achieve will usually guide you towards a specific type of coach. Create a list with your goals and present it to the potential coaches that you want to work with. That always helps, and it will make the process easier.

As we said earlier, some coaches are specialised, and they might not be able to help you as much as you would like. Others are more general, and won’t be able to go for specialised solutions. So in the end, it does come in handy if you focus on finding the right triathlon coach that fits your specific goals. Creating a list will also make it easy to establish your own goals, and that will help narrow down the training even further. The coach can use your list to create a plan that would achieve those goals.

Communication matters

You should always try to talk with the potential coach and see how well they communicate, how they convey their ideas and so on. Yes, triathlon coaching can be expensive, so you always want to ensure that you work with a good coach that you connect with. That alone will make your experience much better than expected, while avoiding any type of rush.

A great coach will usually be a very good communicator, and that alone is the main thing you want to consider in most cases. Yes, pricing matters, but if you don’t have a good connection and great communication with the coach, that will make things more challenging.

Red flags and things to avoid

Now that you know what to focus on when finding a triathlon coach, you should also figure out the different red flags to be on the lookout for.

  • Their commitment is minimal, and there doesn’t seem to be a lot of involvement from their side. A lot of the time, that’s the type of coach to avoid, because he won’t be able to help you reach your goals.
  • Beware of coaches that have only been in the sport for two minutes and are offering their services. This is a definite money making coaching outfit and do not care about your results.
  • They advertise themselves as the best, without a proven track record. While they could be the best, having a track record of great results from their clients will help immensely.
  • The coach is not training or racing anymore. Sure, depending on the age, that could be a thing. But most coaches tend to exercise and they stay in shape, even if they are not racing anymore. A lack of training on their side could be a red flag.
  • Imposing limits on phone calls and communication is also a red flag. A good trainer will always be there for you. If they are very strict when it comes to when and how you contact them, that doesn’t seem right.
  • You barely met the coach, but they already try to upsell you. Realistically, if these things happen, you may want to rethink your approach. A good coach will help you focus on training, not upsell you day one.

Conclusion

We think that hiring the best triathlon coaching service in the UK or in the Blackburn area is always important if you want to have great results. A good coach will help create a personalised plan, and they will help you stay consistent. He will also make you accountable, something that you always need when training. If you need professional triathlon coaching in Blackburn, Lancashire, then Planb Coaching is here to help. We have the experience, knowledge and staff to deliver personalised training plans through Training Peaks that will make it easy for you to obtain exceptional results!

Planb Coaching have been in the long distance sporting arena for over 30 years and can share our experience with you at a fraction of the cost that most Triathlon Coaching companies charge in Blackburn.

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