Yes, Coaches are for "regular Joe's" too!

I think I've made mention to "my coach" a few times over the course of my marathon training, but I've never really talked about him. After I completed my first triathlon last summer, I realized that I desperately needed to work on both my swimming and my biking skills. But ... how? Did I need more pure aerobic work? More tempo work? Speedwork? Could I have a hard swim day followed by a hard bike day? Or did I need to separate the hard days? How many workouts in each discipline did I need? AAAAAHHHHHH! I was totally overwhelmed.

Coincidentally, I had talked quite a bit about coaching with Coach Troy (of Spinervals fame) at his tri camp that I had attended a few months prior. He highly recommended that I find a local coach that I clicked with to help me with my training and racing. At the time, I thought he was nuts. Me? Hire a coach? I'm just a Regular Joe, not some elite athlete or something! But as I continued to feel overwhelmed about how to move forward after my race, I realized that I certainly could benefit from a bit of knowledge. So I dug through the pile of fliers that I had collected at the New England MultiSport Expo a few months back, and found the information from Tri-Hard, a local coaching outfit. I trolled around their site, and eventually stumbled upon their Testimonials page, where I found a comment from a local Winchesterian. I figured, what the heck, and I looked up his number and gave him a call.

Thankfully, he called me back and we talked for a long time about the wonders of Will, his coach, who had helped him to not only improve at the sport, but improve to such a degree that he qualified for the 70.3 Championship race in Clearwater last year! Ok, I'm sold.

Will is incredible - besides providing excellent training plans for me every 2 weeks, he listens when I enter my crazy "pre-race" phase, and helps to keep my head on straight. He's pushed me to achieve results I didn't think I had in me. And he designed a training plan that is getting me to the starting line in Hopkinton on Monday feeling strong and confident, after what was looking like a pretty serious calf injury just a few short months ago. I can't wait to see what he helps me accomplish this season!

So, a coach. It's a good thing. Even for Regular Joe's.