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| 'Virtual' coaching - any experience/recommendations? (Read 462 times) |
rlemert |
posted: 4/17/2008 at 3:45 PM |
In an effort to save myself from myself - and to allow myself to be mentally lazy - I'm considering signing up for some on-line virtual coaching. Has anyone here had any experience working with an on-line coach? Does anyone have someone they could recommend as an on-line coach? Does anyone have any experience with Team Oregon's on-line training?
Further details:
- 55 y. o. male with ~3.5 years current running experience (ran track/xc in high school)
- was doing 35-40 mpw until about a month ago, then had some minor injury/flu/work schedule problems, so yesterday was my first run in at least three weeks
- primary goal is to break 2 hours in a half-marathon so my wife will let me train for another full marathon (still looking for new target race)
- secondary goal is to become competitive in my A.G. in our fall road race series, meaning e.g. ~22:00 5K
I enjoy racing and have a lot of fun meeting the other racers, but I prefer to train by myself - both for scheduling purposes and so I can do my own thing without having to worry about how it would affect someone else.
I'm also concerned that my normal 'base building' schedule gets too repetitive and loses effectiveness, and that I wind up peaking too soon (and too hard) when I'm preparing for a target race (which is what happened earlier this month).
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| view log Its a New Season |
posted: 4/17/2008 at 6:25 PM |
That's what this forum is for......
Open your log for viewing and start asking questions. I learned more here in 3 months than in the past several years by reading, asking, joining a user group with your goal, and posting. There are some seasoned runners here that are very open with their time and advice. And best of all its free. Well except for the donation we should provide Eric for such a great site.
Save you coin for something improtant like a good IPA or Lager.
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Illegitimis non carborundum
2008 goals:
1) run a fall marathon (Indy)
2) stay injury free
3) PR 5K, 10K, HM & M
4) get my kids to start running with me
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| view log Blaine Moore |
posted: 4/17/2008 at 7:06 PM |
Shameless self promotion -
Within the next month or so I will be offering online coaching. I highly recommend me. 
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Run to Win
I just started using Twitter - anybody else on there? http://twitter.com/BlaineMoore
Saturday, 9/6, I'll be interviewing a man who has only lost 1 minute off his 5K time in 30 years:
http://www.runtowin.com/ask/Tom-Ryan.html - Sign up for the call in details and to have your own questions answered! |
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| view log Beware of powerlines! |
posted: 4/17/2008 at 7:42 PM |
| Quote from CarmelRunner on 4/17/2008 at 6:25 PM: I learned more here in 3 months than in the past several years...
Amen to that!
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Fortitudine Vincimus (by Endurance We Conquer)
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rlemert |
posted: 4/17/2008 at 8:14 PM |
Quote from Run To Win on 4/17/2008 at 7:06 PM:Shameless self promotion - Within the next month or so I will be offering online coaching. I highly recommend me.
I was hoping for someone with a little more self-confidence. |
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posted: 4/17/2008 at 10:08 PM |
Rlemert,
What is your budget for an online coach? $30 a month or $100 a month? I asking not so much for me to coach you but to make some online recommendations of coaches I respect and have worked with. I mainly coach local people through word of mouth. |
| Those who try, fail! Those who do what it takes to succeed, succeed!! |
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| view log My clam (shell) picture. |
posted: 4/18/2008 at 12:36 AM |
| Don't know where you live, but maybe there's a running club you could join. Might then be able to get in touch with "real" coaches (unless there's a reason you don't want one of them.) |
Boston 2008
DWARP
Marathon Madness Mob |
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| view log |
posted: 4/18/2008 at 1:35 PM
modified: 4/18/2008 at 1:36 PM |
If all you are looking for is a schedule and someone to hold you accountable, you can accomplish that here for free. Online coaching has a few positive points, but IMHO many negatives. Usually the coach does not know you, no real good read on your history, and cannot see the results you get. So they cannot really adjust. Anything they can give you is more or less a canned schedule only paritally customized based on incomplete feedback.
The first time I tried for the olympic trials I hired a former olympian. Things went pretty well, but when I got to the hard training where I was on the line between big gains and big overtraining, he could not see when I tipped over and could not see it based on my feedback. He got busy and our 2-3 times/week phone calls lapsed an the inopportune moment, further hurting his ability to read the signs. I overtrained and blew the race, fault on both sides but the communication barriers were one root cause.
The second time I tried I hired one of the most well-known and reputable online coaches. What I got for even more money was pretty much a canned schedule, extraordinarily little communication, and training that was not at all adjusted based on the feedback I gave. Even as I overtrained the prescribed workout times got faster and faster. I gave up and cut him loose, recovered, and went back to training myself (resulting in PRs at every distance).
What I learned from the experience was that I really knew what I needed to do and just needed to trust myself to execute. Now, you may not be in that position. However I'd highly recommend ANYONE local who knows something over a more reputable coach online. |
"Talent" is a cop-out for not wanting to try harder.
marathon - 2:28
HM - 1:09:53
10K - 30:57
5K - 15:18 (2nd half of above 10K) |
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rlemert |
posted: 4/18/2008 at 2:22 PM |
TChuck - The Team Oregon web site says their program runs $100 for an eight-week training plan, so I'm thinking $50-60/month would be reasonable. I can afford to go higher if necessary, but I'd want to make sure I was getting enough extra "bang" for my buck to do so. (I'd probably go for a local coach for that much money.)
RTW - I'll keep my eye's out for your when you "open your practice". I hope to set up a relationship fairly soon (while it's still cool enough to run comfortably), but you never know.
dnephin - I'm in Raleigh, NC, and there's at least two fairly active running clubs in the area, and I've been trying to contact people at them for their suggestions too. I've thought about joining one of them, but so far I haven't been able to identify enough benefits to me to justify the action. Their group runs, for example, offer no attraction because I really prefer running by myself.
Everyone - I can't open my log because I don't keep it here - it's currently on old-fashioned paper (you remember that stuff, don't you?). After the CoolRunning log debacle with Active, I've been very leery of keeping my log on-line. I have considered purchasing running log software to keep on my computer (where I have more control over it), but just haven't gotten around to it yet.
Also, I've definately picked up a lot of good advice from this site and others, much of which I try to incorporate into my own practice. Left to my own devices, though, I tend to both be too repetitive in my training (this week's schedule looks a lot like last week's, and I don't see much change next week either) and too aggressive. |
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| view log Blaine Moore |
posted: 4/18/2008 at 2:59 PM |
| Quote from rlemert on 4/18/2008 at 2:22 PM: RTW - I'll keep my eye's out for your when you "open your practice". I hope to set up a relationship fairly soon (while it's still cool enough to run comfortably), but you never know.
Good to hear!
And @spaniel - I'm hoping when I offer my online coaching to be able to offer a customized enough experience to make it worth people's while. I haven't decided on an exact number of people that I'm going to coach yet, but it isn't going to be very many. I'll figure all that out in a couple weeks once my next marathon is out of the way and I have some time to organize everything.
Quote from rlemert on 4/18/2008 at 2:22 PM:Everyone - I can't open my log because I don't keep it here - it's currently on old-fashioned paper (you remember that stuff, don't you?). After the CoolRunning log debacle with Active, I've been very leery of keeping my log on-line. I have considered purchasing running log software to keep on my computer (where I have more control over it), but just haven't gotten around to it yet.
One nice thing about this site is that you can export your log on demand.
If you want a good offline training log software, you don't need to buy it, you can just download it. Take a look at Sport Tracks: http://www.zonefivesoftware.com/SportTracks/
If you like it then I recommend sending them a donation.
Not that there's anything wrong with paper. I used paper right up until a couple years ago and still have all of my old logs on my shelf near my desk. |
Run to Win
I just started using Twitter - anybody else on there? http://twitter.com/BlaineMoore
Saturday, 9/6, I'll be interviewing a man who has only lost 1 minute off his 5K time in 30 years:
http://www.runtowin.com/ask/Tom-Ryan.html - Sign up for the call in details and to have your own questions answered! |
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| view log Sherpagirl |
posted: 4/18/2008 at 3:00 PM |
| I agree with Spaniel. I have done it both ways in person and virtual twice. I got a lot more attention and real running advice during my in-person coaching. I think there is always going to be a gap when you are coaching virtually ... there is a lot that can be left out in an e-mail or a phone call. The other issue I have had for both styles is very few people actually coach for Ultra running. Training for a marathon and an ultramarthon are just different. The long and short of it ... I will spend my money on other things. |
| If you're bored ask why you're boring |
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posted: 4/18/2008 at 3:28 PM |
Rlemert,
If you want to communicate personally with me about this, please e-mail me: I can give you a couple recommendations based on what you want OR you may want to go local if you feel you can find a quality coach. Your call, just offering some feedback.
Todd
charnetski@earthlink.net |
| Those who try, fail! Those who do what it takes to succeed, succeed!! |
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| view log Over Achiever |
posted: 4/18/2008 at 3:55 PM |
I don't mean to hijack your thread, but I would be interested as well. I would be looking for someone to help prepare me for my next 10miler next month (or better prepare me) and then work with me for my fall Half's that I have scheduled and should I get picked (ya' right) for the NYing as well.
my email is: debearyergs@yahoo.com
Thanks
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| Running is a big question mark that's there each and every day. It asks you, 'Are you going to be a wimp or are you going to be strong today?
Peter Maher
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| view log |
posted: 4/18/2008 at 7:28 PM |
Blaine- Honestly assessing how much time you have to coach, and then limiting the number you coach to fit into that time, is a great first step. The problem of interactivity and seeing the results is still an issue however. I think for someone just looking for a schedule and basic guidance it is less of an issue. When working with experienced runners needing fine-tuning and full feedback it is a HUGE issue. Someone might tell you they did 8X800 in 2:30 each and it went well, but if you'd been there watching them you could have seen they were working it too hard. Stuff like that can make the difference.
I think trying to coach too many was the issue with my 2nd online coach. The first went very well for several months while conversations for frequent, it was when he tried his own comeback that communications slackened and I ran into problems.
I had a college teammate who took up coaching and I warned him that you should not coach until you were ready to give less than your best to your own running career. Sure enough he was a good coach but never PRed again. There is only so much time in the day... |
"Talent" is a cop-out for not wanting to try harder.
marathon - 2:28
HM - 1:09:53
10K - 30:57
5K - 15:18 (2nd half of above 10K) |
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