I love this time of year.  Fall is when I am honored to be a part of amazing conversations with prospective coaching clients!  I thoroughly enjoy hearing about all the cool races & events that folks have decided to do.  As we chat about their goals, past training, strengths & areas of most potential (what some may call “weaknesses”) & schedules, I begin to parse out whether or not coaching is really a good fit for them.

Truthfully, being a coached athlete not for everyone.  Yes, these folks represent potential “new business”.  But the more important issue – the key to success for both an athlete & a coach – is whether or not being coached is the right choice for them at this particular point in time.

Ten Things to Consider

It might surprise you to hear that, as a coach, I don’t always think that coaching is the best answer for every athlete!  There are many factors to take into consideration.  Here are just a few of the many things to consider:

1. What type of personality are you?
2. What are your goals?
3. What brings you joy?
4. How important is improvement?
5. Do you like structure or does it feel limiting?
6. How do you view tradeoffs (i.e., How do I feel about not doing X in order to gain Y?)?
7. Are you able to trust what your coach prescribes?
8. How willing are you to try things that are different, perhaps even contrary to how you’ve “always done it”?
9. Do you have available finances to support a longer-term commitment? *
10. Are you able to reprioritize your time to support a longer-term commitment? *

* Truthfully…coaching won’t really work in the short term.  You need to commit to at least 6 months to 1 year in order to adequately assess whether or not the structure works.

#1 Thing to Think About

While these 10 things are VERY important to think through & identify answers to, there is one Talking Point that I routinely emphasize when consulting with potential clients.

How important is freedom versus improvement?

This concept is basically, a combo of #4 & #6.  Here’s how it works.

Freedom = Less Improvement – Many athletes like to take a laissez-faire or buffet approach to training.  Heck…I’ve done that many times over the years.  When you take the buffet approach you often have an end goal…but to get there you do a little of this, a little of that, you go on your friend’s group ride simply for the social aspect, you may or may not take rest days.  Instead of being tied down to a training schedule, you enjoy the full freedom of being able to do whatever you want whenever you want & however you want.  And while buffets are certainly fun & exciting, you have to understand that you may be too full to fully enjoy the AMAZING dessert that comes out at the end!  Maybe not a great analogy…but suffice to say that your end goal performance may not be as significant as you had hoped for.

Structure = More Improvement – Contrary to the buffet approach is the structured training plan that makes the end goal the #1 priority.  When the end goal is #1 then all aspects of training are focused on making that end goal better.  I’ve also taken this approach many times over the years!  With the structured approach you often have to say “no” to your friend’s group ride because the distance and/or the intensity are not in-line with your current training plan.  To go back to our buffet analogy…you know BEFORE you walk into the buffet that you’ll eat just enough of 3 (and only 3) things in order to fully enjoy the amazing dessert!  In other words, you’ll say “no” to lots of things in order to stick to your plan & potentially be quite surprised by the improvement in your end goal performance.

Is one way better than the other?  Absolutely not.  The path you choose all depends on what’s most important to you at this point in time.  And…you may decide to take a different path next year!  That’s the beauty of all of this – you have choices!

Now that I’ve presented my “coach-y” side of things, let’s hear how a few athletes feel about coaching!

Bret Moffett – Runner, Triathlete

“I have been in sports since I was 5 yrs old.  I started in basketball at the Boy’s Club & played until I was almost 30.  Coaching is necessary for skill acquisition & for getting feedback.  After I quit playing organized sports, I picked up running & triathlons.  I self-coached most of this primarily by reading books, watching video & observing other athletes.  But with swimming, I just could not get better on my own.  I signed up for swim lessons…and I got a lot better with new skill sets & feedback on those skills.  There is a saying you need to spend 10,000 hrs at something in order to become an expert.  But what people don’t remember is that this is 10,000 hrs WITH coaching/instruction.  Great musicians or athletes don’t become experts merely by spending time doing.  They become expert by spending productive time with people who instruct them in their craft.”