Posts tagged Half Ironman

No matter your level of experience in triathlon, training under the guidance of a coach can be hugely beneficial. Personal triathlon coaching is the best approach for people who need individual attention and more focused feedback. We sat down with Coach Carrie Barrett, founder and head coach at FOMO Training, to talk more about the benefits of a personal coach and gathered some insight on how and why to get started with one!

If you are looking for individual feedback and attention in your triathlon training, a personal coach is the way to go! Coach Carrie says she has her athletes log their workouts daily, and they send her weekly feedback forms so she can track their questions, victories and frustrations. It is with this personal approach that Coach Carrie is able to design training schedules that are custom built for each individual she coaches.

A few reasons you might want to consider a personal coach:

• If you have a limitations when it comes to your weekly schedule, a personal coach will work with you to customize your workouts to fit your limited availability
• You prefer training alone better than in a group setting
• You’ve reached a point in your training where more specific & customized training instruction will help you get to the next level
• You’re highly self-motivated

How do you get started with a personal triathlon coach?

Coach Carrie says she starts by meeting new athletes (in person if possible). She believes this is the best way to establish a rapport and trust that will foster a stronger relationship. In these meetings, she discusses goals, limitors, races and details on how she works as a coach. For triathletes in particular, she will set up some heart rate testing on the bike and on the treadmill to establish training zones. Coach Carrie says this information is vital to have because this is where a lot of the customization comes into focus.  For more information about what you might expect from a personal coach, check out what Coach Carrie offers each of her athletes: http://www.fomotraining.com/coaching/

To give you an even better sense of the type of person who trains with a personal triathlon coach, Coach Carrie gave us a couple profiles of FOMO Athletes she coaches:

“Christopher L. was actually the first athlete I officially worked with in June 2010. He was a gifted runner, but was relatively new to triathlon. He raced a 5:29 at his first Half Ironman (Longhorn 70.3). Last week, he crushed his Half Marathon PR at 3M with a 1:22. He did a 1:32 just one year ago. He’s a prime example of the athlete profile I desire. He’s a busy professional with a family. Because of schedule demands, he prefers to train by himself or with a friend on occasion. I gave him the paces he would need to run and he tracked his workouts daily. The hard efforts paid dividends on race day.”

“Becca M. is another example. Because of physical limitations, group settings are often difficult and frustrating. She was looking for someone to help build a schedule that included the appropriate intensities and necessary recoveries. Her work schedule is also incredibly demanding, so she often has to juggle her training schedule and make adjustments. For her, it’s good having someone there to say that it’s ok when “life gets in the way.” In the last few months, she hit her groove and also set a personal best at 3M, beating her time goal by over five minutes! She has her sights set on Ironman Arizona in 2013 and will spend this year laying the groundwork in order to make the transition to full Ironman!”

Coach Carrie’s Top 5 Training/Racing Tips:

1.   Always know your “WHY” of training. There will be many lonely days where you simply won’t want to train, so it’s imperative to know your reasons. In fact, I encourage my athletes to write a new reason every day. That way, there’s never a shortage of “whys.”

2.   Know how many calories you are burning so that you know how to refuel yourself in training and racing. This truly is the key to enjoying the sport and avoiding the bonk. You can learn this via metabolic testing or even a simple HR monitor with calorie expenditure noted. Knowing your body’s caloric and nutrient needs is just as vital as logging the hours and miles.

3.   Race YOUR plan. One of the reasons I use HR monitors as one measuring tool is because it is one indicator of how you are feeling on a given day. It’s also an honest reflection of your intensity level. It lets you know when you are training too hard or not hard enough. The easy days should be easy, and the hard days should be hard. Heart rate monitors aren’t the be all/end all of devices, but they are certainly a valuable tool in the learning process of how to step it up.

4.   Forgive yourself. There will be bad days. Just ask pregnant women. They have some really bad days during pregnancy, but still give birth to a beautiful baby at the end. The same is true with your training. There will be some rough patches, but it doesn’t mean that you won’t succeed. Forgive yourself and stay the course.

5.   Have fun. The missing ingredient to so many people who are caught up in gadgets and wizardry. My personal mantra is, “If you can’t laugh at yourself, someone else will.” Have fun during the training. It truly is a gift.

Learn more about FOMO Training.

Visit FOMO online at MyFitList and on their website. You can also follow FOMO on Facebook, Twitter, and Coach Carrie’s hilarious triathlon blog!

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