Will a coach be able to help me as a beginner triathlete
Getting a coach at any point in your athletic career is a big deal. In triathlon, athletes can have access to coaches at an early point through the club system. New athletes are often reluctant to go to a club or coached sessions, fearful that they aren’t good enough or the stigma that coaching is for the “good athletes”. Coach Diogo looks specifically into how a coach will help a beginner athlete and how the very opposite is true.
A Coach the Navigator
Do you remember when you learnt how to drive your car or ride your bike? Imagine trying to do that without having someone to teach you how to do it safely for you and others. If every time you got on the bike, you fell off and hurt yourself, either you would learn something very quickly, or you would say this isn’t for you. Similarly with driving: if you kept on stalling the car because you didn’t understand the balance of the clutch and the accelerator, you would give up fairly quickly and just walk instead. It would be quicker. Learning a new sport is the same; there are rules, techniques, tips and nuances that everyone learns (some of us don’t even know we know them!), and a Coach is in a perfect position to teach you all them and help orientate you around this new sport.
Often this is typified by the fact that many people believe a coach is someone who sets training, and there are similarities to a PT. However, a coach will be a lot more than that. A coach should be someone that can guide you, motivate you, teach you and most of all, someone who will not judge you for your beginner mistakes and often help you avoid them, which speeds up your learning curve. They can help deliver their experience of working with many athletes to help you avoid faux pas and deliver a performance closer to your potential each time you go out.
A Coach the Filter
Triathlon is beautifully simple. From the start line, swim, bike and run your way to the finish line. The first person across the line wins. Yet, it can seem complicated, daunting and confusing. A coach can simplify the complex, filter out the noise and calm any of your worries.
What bike should you use? What wetsuit should you choose? Do you need to buy a £250 pair of trainers? What kit do I need? How do I deal with the rain? Cleat pedals or platforms? What should I eat? How do I go to the toilet? Can I swim breaststroke? What bra should I get to swim and run in? Am I allowed to wear gloves? What do I do in a transition?
These are some of the most fundamental questions that coaches often get asked, or you see online in forums or clubs. You may recall your voice asking the same questions! The advantage of asking a coach is that they can provide you with context. There are so many “must-haves” in triathlon that often, people get carried away with it all and lose sight of what is a “must-have” for them. A coach can filter out the distractions and answer the questions that an athlete may have given their context and not someone else’s experience. Often a coach’s role for beginners is to help them navigate the jargon and marketing to help make it cheaper to enjoy. Great coaches can identify where an athlete is on their athletic journey and help them grow through each phase. This is often why some athletes work with the same coach for many years or even a career; they have someone who understands how they have grown.
A Coach the Planner
Training for one sport can be complicated—training for three needs a balance. No one comes to the sport with the same skill and experience of swimming, cycling, and running as someone else; we all have our strengths and weaknesses. Another (and often the one people think of first) is that a coach can help plan your season around your life. Triathletes tend to be busy people (why do one sport when you can do three!), fitting training and life in can be challenging. Again a coach can help you plan out your week or even season and help get you to the start line fresh and ready to race.
They can help you plan your race too. What effort should you hold? How to manage an open water race? How do you apply tactics for different races and distances? They can help you plan and peak for an event without putting in junk miles or focusing on an area you don’t have time for.
A Coach the Connector
Another positive reason for beginner athletes to hire a coach is that coaches often know a lot of triathletes, where to go, and industry connections. They can introduce you to the triathlon community! If you didn’t listen to our podcast with coach Sorrel, you can hear the importance of having a group of friendly people to train with. However, they can also link you up with good bike shops, coffee stops, physios and possibly some discount coupons too!
A Coach, an Investment
You certainly won’t be a beginner for the rest of your life, and your goals will change with your progression in the sport. For now, your goal might be to learn what gears you must use in that specific hill, but perhaps, with time, it may be to beat the fastest time to the top of the same hill. Often we look at the sport costing quite a bit (It doesn’t need to), and why would a beginner spend more money on a coach? We may be biased, but we think of coaching as an investment into your performance rather than a cost. You may decide to change coaches down the line, but you won’t have to replace them because it is not working and start again (like a bike part or kit item). You can carry the lessons forward in your journey and build each time you refresh your goals. A coach will certainly guide you through these phases: learn how to play the sport, play to train, train to compete and who knows, compete to win.
Triathlon Coaching started for Diogo in 2010 when he was invited by Sporting Lisbon to start coaching the Triathlon School. Realising that coaching with only the level 2 wasn’t enough, Diogo decided complete his degree in Physical Education and Sports.
While at University, Diogo started to coach at some training camps in the South of Portugal and was soon an integrated part of the coaching team for the Junior Portuguese National Team at both events and camps.
After completing his degree, Diogo was invited to join the Portuguese Triathlon Federation as the Coaching Development Director, organising several Coaching Courses and CPD’s.
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We’re here to help
Tri Training Harder are one of the leading Triathlon coaching providers in the UK, using our wealth of experience to unite scientific and technological research with already well-established and successful best practices, to create a formula for triathlon and endurance coaching that works.
The result is an honest, dynamic, yet simple new way of constructing an athlete’s training to allow them to reach their potential.
If you’re planning your next season, just starting out in the sport or are looking for extra guidance at the very top end of the field, we are here to help, and our coaches would be delighted to hear from you. You can contact us via the website, and one of the team will be in touch.