Top athletes have coaches. Why should you consider one.

What is similar between Ironman World Champions, Tour De France winners, and Olympic gold medalists?  The simple answer is they all have a coach.  What about if you don’t necessarily have aspirations to be a world champion or gold medalist?  What if you just want to complete your first Ironman, win your local criterium race, or set a PR in an upcoming half marathon?  Coaches provide the input and flexibility to maximize your time.  The goal is to always do the minimum amount necessary to maximize your adaptation and benefit to training time.

Coach vs. Online Training Plan:
A lot of people fall into the trap of downloading that 18 week “Couch to 5k” set-in-stone training plan.  I am not saying that these training plans are horrible.  If someone has a lot of experience and knows how to properly modify the training to fit the stresses of daily life then these plans provide a decent footprint.  Let’s look at a trusty pro/con list to see what a training plan is all about.

IREP athletics does have these set-in-stone training plans for triathlon, running, cycling, and swimming.  Partnering one of these training plans with a one or two consultations would provide a budget friendly alternative to monthly coaching.

Online/local Coaching:
The stigma around hiring a coach is that it is always too expensive.  But can you put a value on your overall health and performance goals?  Hiring a coach provides the flexibility and experience to maximize an athlete’s potential through maximizing the time available to train.  A coach will listen to the athlete and modify the daily training plan in order to work around those life events and stresses that you can’t control.  A coach will know when to back off and perform some serious body maintenance when that niggle pops up.  Take a look at the following pro/con list for hiring a coach:

​All of the coaches at IREP Athletics believe in implementing the most up to date training theories to set our athletes up for success.  We believe in connecting with our clients and building a relationship where sharing information is not looked down upon.  I recommend connecting with one of our coaches to find out some more information about what we can provide.  This initial communication is completely free so there is really no reason not to talk.  Don't put off until tomorrow what you can do today.