Put Me In, Coach

About 2/3 of the way through my 2500 yard swim workout last night, I thought that maybe my coach was secretly trying to kill me. After all, since my Oly tri in mid May, I had taken 3 easy weeks of light workouts and was just starting back yesterday in full training mode. 2500 yards was a looonnngg way after you have only been paddling around 1300 for the last 3 weeks.

Coach Claire warned me that some of my workouts for this 70.3 would "knock the snot out of me." I don't think this was one of them, because my nasal passages remained intact, but it could have been a warning shot over my bow. Wake up, because doing a half-iron is not for the faint of heart nor the lazy. I get it.

Coach Claire and I met up in January. She was a Christmas gift from my work associates (see? you get bath salts and I get a knock the snot out of you coach). They gave me a free session with her, and I was hooked. Before then, I was training myself, which is probably okay for sprints and stuff, but I knew I wanted to move up. I signed up for her program. She got me through my first Oly tri in an upright position and now she is trying to get me through my first 70.3. She has her hands full, believe me.

Coach Claire's website is www.highfiveendurance.com. She's an accomplished athlete, plus she is funny, cute and single for all you single guys out there (she's also smart, so take that into consideration). For a modest fee, she sets up training programs for me, takes my feedback, holds my hand, answers my questions, and if necessary, meets me for one or one training (she went with me for my first big girl open water swim practice in Lake Lavon).

Do you need a coach? It depends on what you are training for, how self motivated you are, and how well you fall into general categories. I trained myself for half marathons and sprint tris by reading a LOT of books and on line programs. They worked, I finished, but I finished slow, and I kept some bad habits along the way that are hard to discard now. Many on line or book programs don't fit everyone in every situation, especially the older, slower non-athlete. A custom program with a coach where you give feedback (this hurts, this seems too easy, this seems too hard, whatever) really makes a difference.

Another thing that happens with a coach is that you tend to have more reason not to quit or short your training. If I am thinking about bagging out of a workout early because I am tired or frustrated, one of the things I now tell myself is "don't let down Coach Claire." That keeps me moving forward, because I am sure she is sitting home every night wringing her hands hoping I don't disappoint her that day. :-)

So I guess the bottom line is, if you are happy with your progress, if you feel comfortable with your training and results, you can probably use books and on line programs to get you through. However, if you want to get a bit better, faster, longer or smarter (I'm a big fan of training smarter rather than harder), or move up a level in your training, by all means try out a coach. Not every coach will fit everyone, so look for someone you feel comfortable with.

I'm happy with my pre-snot knocking swim last night. Don't think Coach Claire just said "go swim 2500 yards." How boring. No no, it was a 100 yard warm up, then 8 X 50's of drill work, doing exercises like fingertip drag, head tap, catch up, and the Tarzan swim (where yelling is optional), then 3 X 500's with one minute rest between, and finishing up with 8 X 50's 25 sprints and 25 easy, along with a final 100 cool down. It's always something new and different to improve your form and your speed and your endurance. (Now, I'm not going to be giving out any more workout secrets from Coach Claire here, so if you want help, you gotta hire her!).

Tonight's only a 30 minute run, which sounds do-able after the Big Swim.