People often ask me if I have a coach for
triathlon training and what I get from having a coach. The answers: performance improvement, peace of mind, and a new #1 Fan! You see, I am a worrier. In the 8
th grade, I got an award for being the best “Worry Wart”. This quality has stayed with me throughout life and into my triathlon training. I like to keep a very aggressive race and event schedule and my main worries with tri-training are “Am I over-training”, or, “Am I under-training” for all these events. And then there are the minor worries, “I’ve never ridden a hill that big, can I make it?” or “I never swam that far without my wetsuit, won’t I drown?” Coach Alex has helped me prioritize my race schedule, manage my training efficiently, and taken the worry off of my shoulders. I am confident that following Coach Alex’s training plans and working with him on my “Achilles Heel”, swimming, has boosted my performance in a very short time. I achieved a PR in my last Half Ironman race with a 19 minute improvement in my overall time compared to the same race a year ago; 11 minutes of the improvement was in the swim.
While the numbers speak for themselves, there’s more to a coach than just delivering and executing a training plan. There’s also a degree of communication that is special and unique. Before my event, my personal goal was to improve my overall time from the previous year. When I asked Coach Alex for pre-race advice and tips, he responded with a race day execution and strategy plan, some things to think about and he also said, “I think that 6:19 is going to get blown away.” That stuck with me and made a huge difference in my confidence on race day. His belief in my ability helped me believe in me giving me the extra edge to race harder than I ever have and achieve a new personal best. That was one of my favorite races to date! I’m looking forward to working with Coach Alex the rest of the season as I prepare for a great race at Ironman Cozumel 2010!
