ON-LINE TRIATHLON COACHING

First of all, I have added some pictures to yesterdays Great White North tri results blog, so be sure to have a look.

I have been thinking about something for time now. I get many, many emails from triathletes around the world. The people who get the most from my website Ironstruck.ca, my books, and this blog are quite often new to the sport and are in need of direction. Many are looking for coaches. This is especially true when someone is beginning from square one and has their mind made up to cross the Ironman finish line. They ask me if I can help them with a training program, but there are several reasons why I can't. First of all, I'm not a certified coach and have never claimed to be. I pass on what I've learned from experience and have my own way of helping people realize their dreams. I leave the real coaching to the coaches who know what they are doing.

Also, I have visitors to Ironstruck.ca from about 65 countries every month and I could never keep up my full-time job, update my website and blogs, answer every single email I get from where-ever, and still coach all the people who want coaching. You really need a certified coach who coaches for a living and is "very familiar with the sport of triathlon".

For today's aspiring triathletes there are many good coaches out there. The one thing about tri coaches is that they all have their own style and for the most part, prefer to coach certain types of individuals. That makes perfect sense to me. The skills, techniques, and knowledge a person has as a coach do not always match athletes of every level of ability or the personal goals they have. It makes better sense to specialize and focus on matching the right coach with the right athlete.

I've been thinking of adding a coach referral page to my website, Ironstruck. I ran this idea past coach Cal----from Critical Speed in Calgary(by the way, what a great result in the GWN--4th place over-all at 41 years old--way to go CAl!!!). HMMM same age as the winner Tom Evans. We briefly discussed the subject of different coaches for athletes with different goals and Cal agrees completely as he tends to coach high-athletes who are looking to race as fast as their ability allows. There are other coaches who love to coach people who are not athletes at all, and are just starting out.

I've met many coaches in the course of my book-signings etc. and I would really appreciate some feed-back from anyone who reads this blog....just use the comments button on the bottom of the article.

What I want to know is, would you as a new triathlete, experienced age-group triathlete, or potential pro triathlete feel comfortable using an on-line coach, or do you think you would prefer a coach who is local and can meet you over at the pool for some hands on swim coaching?

Do you think you would be less likely to miss training workouts set out by your coach if he was watching over you in person? Do you think you could be just an intense and dedicated to your training if you live in California and your coach lives somewhere in Canada and you never set eyes on him?

Do you prefer to save money and not have a coach at all and learn as you go, by trial and error, reading books(like Ironstruck)or visiting websites?

You can have the best coach in the world and no matter if he/she lives next door or is from the other side of the world, a coach can only do so much and it's up to the athlete to stick to the game-plan and remain dedicated to the training that is set out by their coaches in order to help athletes reach their individual goals. It's no different if you are coaching yourself. You will only get out what you put in.

Let my know what you think about online coaching.

Have a great day and train safe..

Ironstruck Ray