The value of a training coach?

[Truck24hr]

Curious of your guys thoughts here. I'm considering a coach for for my training. I ran a 60k last month and failed miserably. I did finish, but not in the required time.

That experience made me question all the training I've done. So I've been wondering about hiring a trainer. Just looked at Uphill Athlete and it's not cheap. This is important to me though, and I don't expect expert advice and planning to be cheap.

I'm sure I could take the time and plan out my own training, and follow through, but I don't want to get 12 weeks deep and figure out it was all for naught.

I've got a late March marathon scheduled, and am planning on signing up for a 100 miler next October.

Thanks guys

 

[1jeds]

I've done both - "self coached" AKA reading a lot of books and listening to podcasts to create a plan mainly when I was road running, then switched to a coach for 3 years when I moved over to trail/ultras. The coaching I used was another big player in the space, comparable pricing to Evoke, who I also looked at when searching around.

I recently moved back to being self-coached as I feel like I have a pretty good grasp on what needs to be done, how to periodize ultra training, and felt I wasn't getting $350/month worth of value. I do not need any help with motivation or accountability, which is usually a big plus of a coach, as well as an objective view of the training.

It sounds like you're starting out, so consistency is going to be the biggest factor. Actually, it never stops being the biggest factor. I'd recommend trying out some of the Evoke training plans for trail - they offer a few different options. If you want to take it a step further you can do a phone consult or have them create a custom plan for a fraction of the cost.

Training plans Archive

evokeendurance.com

 

[aks]

As a personal trainer. Yes a trainer is worth it......if.... you don't know how to train, what to do, you need accountability, you don't want to study and schedule a program yourself, how to workout correctly, etc.
My schooling is honestly just all knowledge you can pick up yourself.
I use the example of painting a house, you can do it yourself, its just painting, but an experienced painter will have tips and tricks that may take years to pick up. But if you do enough studying and time painting. You can do it also.

With all that being said...... I basically motivate and spot people for a living lol

 

[DLSJR]

Curious of your guys thoughts here. I'm considering a coach for for my training. I ran a 60k last month and failed miserably. I did finish, but not in the required time.

That experience made me question all the training I've done. So I've been wondering about hiring a trainer. Just looked at Uphill Athlete and it's not cheap. This is important to me though, and I don't expect expert advice and planning to be cheap.

I'm sure I could take the time and plan out my own training, and follow through, but I don't want to get 12 weeks deep and figure out it was all for naught.

I've got a late March marathon scheduled, and am planning on signing up for a 100 miler next October.

Thanks guys

I’ll ask my daughter and her husband what they do. They’re both ultra trail runners, though my daughter hasn’t run longer than 50K so far. Her husband has run a couple 100 mile races, in fact he finished such a race a couple weeks ago in 22 hrs and 19 minutes IIRC. He’s qualified, but yet to be drawn for the Western States 100 so he runs portions of the trail every year to pace friends that are entered. We’re fortunate that we live near that race. I’ll ask them what they do and recommend.

 

[mtbraun]

Starting out as you are, I'd recommend a coach. You'll learn alot about the process of building up to a hundo. I started out with a coach in 2019, used him for about 3 years, then went the last 3 on my own. Recently re-engaged another coach and am very excited to see how the 12 week block will translate to a race in December.

 

[DLSJR]

@Truck24hr I finally got a chance to talk with my son-in-law about a coach. He thinks there are plenty of online coaching options, including some that use AI now, that you probably would be fine without a personal coach. He hasn’t used a personal coach, just relies upon online sources to plan his training and has never felt the need for one on one coaching. He finished a 100 mile race a few weeks ago, ran a good time just using online resources. He thinks the time for a personal coach would be if/when you get serious about competing to place high in races. I’m not sure that helps but I hope it’s of value to you.

 

[AlphaK9]

Damn... a 100 miler... !!!

 

[Mtnmilsurp]

There’s truly no voodoo magic to good training. My opinion as a 49 year-old who’s been training successfully for 30 years:

If you just run an hour a day at an EASY effort level you’re 90% there (and better than most coaching you could pay for). This will be anywhere from 15 min/mile to 5:30/mi depending on your fitness level. Overload ing is not a thing with running.

Add 5 minutes to a long run once a week until you get to 3 hours and you have a 95% solution.

Add in a basic barbell workout 3x per week and you’re up to 98% there.

The last 2% of goodness is fraught with peril. Speed work is usually over done and ill-prescribed. This is what you want expertise for (DIY or outsourced) but it’s only for a small improvement on the margin.

 

[Eagle]

There’s truly no voodoo magic to good training. My opinion as a 49 year-old who’s been training successfully for 30 years:

If you just run an hour a day at an EASY effort level you’re 90% there (and better than most coaching you could pay for). This will be anywhere from 15 min/mile to 5:30/mi depending on your fitness level. Overload ing is not a thing with running.

Add 5 minutes to a long run once a week until you get to 3 hours and you have a 95% solution.

Add in a basic barbell workout 3x per week and you’re up to 98% there.

The last 2% of goodness is fraught with peril. Speed work is usually over done and ill-prescribed. This is what you want expertise for (DIY or outsourced) but it’s only for a small improvement on the margin.

Add one VO2Max workout to this formula and you’re golden.

 

[Truck24hr]

Thanks for all the help guys.

In my original post I mentioned "all the training I have done". Well, I looked at some training plans online, did some more research into coaching, and then pulled up my stats from all my runs in the last year.

Fact is, "all the training I have done", wasn't near as much as I thought it was.

I'm going to buy a plan I think, though I haven't decided which one yet. Work through it the next 16 weeks until the marathon, and see how that goes.

There's 6 months between the marathon and 100. If I feel like I haven’t progressed as much as I should after the marathon, I'll go with a coach.

Thanks again for all the replies.

 

[KY Ryan]

I’ve lifted all my life but never considered myself a runner. I signed up with Runna back in the summer to PR on a race last month. It’s AI based and relatively cheap. Talking with all my running friends, their plan was legit.

 

[KY Ryan]

You didn’t mention nutrition, but I’m sure you realize how important it is during a race. I saw many friends not take it serious and they bonked at some point. I listened to Fuel for the Run podcast. Their nutritionist says to consume 80 to 100 carbs an hour and probably way more sodium than you realize.

 

[Truck24hr]

You didn’t mention nutrition, but I’m sure you realize how important it is during a race. I saw many friends not take it serious and they bonked at some point. I listened to Fuel for the Run podcast. Their nutritionist says to consume 80 to 100 carbs an hour and probably way more sodium than you realize.

Yeah, I totally screwed the nutrition part. Came out too hot and kept that up for 8 hours. Felt like I was going to throw up the last 4 hours probably, and didn't eat or drink anything the last 3 hours I was out.

I've been using my long runs since to try to get the nutrition down. Did a 4 hour run Sunday with 1 bottle mixed with Tailwind, and 3 bottles mixed with LMNT.

My legs felt pretty good through the whole thing.

Did a 3 hour long run the week before with nothing. Legs got heavy after hour 2.