SBR Utopia ~~~~ Permanently OPEN!! (Page 70)

I'm going to throw out $100-$125 as a range.  

Yeah Marc I agree - I have no idea how folks manage to make a living coaching, but I sure am glad they do.

As a person who works in a fee-for-service industry as a general rule I don't work for friends. If they get really insistent about it, I will offer to either A) do the work for free, or B) offer to do it for HIGHER than my actual billable rate (which normally would correlate to what the work is actually worth to me all things being equal). In other words with friends I am either doing the work as A) a gift, or B) as a friend they actually understand what the work is truly worth. I have seen too many times that operating in the area in between those two extremes to almost always (at the very least) strain relationships. At some point when you work for discounted fees the client will expect too much and/or other deals and you will become frustrated by that. You are very smart, and your services are of great value; quite frankly from what I can tell from following your mentor thread along and from your interaction here way more valuable than many "experienced" coaches out there. And in the end you don't do the industry (i.e.: coaches like Shane, etc) any good by undercutting the market just because you are doing it for fun or as a side hobby. 

That said - here is the breakdown of what I pay and what I get:
I got in with my coach early, he had quite a bit of swim coach and cycling coach experience, but was just getting in to triathlon. While already successful most of his experience was with collegiate elites He had never coached a long course athlete before I signed up with him for those services. I took a chance as I liked his approach and thought process, and he struck me as the kind of person that would pour himself in to the effort simply because the learning curve would be steep for him. You strike me as the same kind of person, and that should actually have ADDED value at least to a discerning client. His fees at the time were $175.00 per four week block ( I wish it was per month simply for billing efficiency, but I do understand why it is organized around weeks). I get a full training peaks account in which he delivers workouts and I log my input - the more detail the better. Other than my logging, we don't use training peaks to do any other communication, except that next weeks workouts will often refer back to the previous week(s). Most communication is handled via phone, email, or text, and as much or little as is required. We see each other face-to-face every few weeks on average, either for a specific skill session, test, race, or just to have lunch. We train by power, which often coaches charge more for, at least around here anyway. My work and travel schedule is very fluid - he has access to my calendar and works my training around that, if I update my calendar he immediately updates my schedule. If I have last minute change I will shoot him a text and he will respond very quickly - he is very accessible. He works with a small network of other coaching specialists (including a nutritionist) and they consult with each other about their individual clients. For instance this last season when we decided it would be good to do a big run-focused block (not my coaches area of deep expertise) I met with the run specialist a few times and then even though I was still getting my workouts in TP from my coach, I could tell that they were actually coming from the run specialist. In November I am scheduled to begin a legit gym-oriented strength block, and we will do the same with that one - my coach will still manage my overall schedule, but I will work with a specialist int he actual gym (and pay extra for that). For all that four years later he still has me parked at the initial rate of $175.00, but he now has clients that he charges as much as $300.00, and folks spread in-between (and some of his collegiate folks on "scholarship"). I have talked to him about raising my fees at least some, but it seems to be standard practice in the industry to hold an athlete where they are in perpetuity, and you simply increase your income as folks roll off and new athletes enter. Besides, I think I am fairly easy compared to many of his other athletes: I do what he tells me to do, log clearly and expeditiously, and don't really need any atta-boys. Which is a good thing, because that is his primary weakness - the only clients he seems to lose are the ones that require a lot of petting, and that is honestly just not his bag.

Now all THAT said - while I don't think I have mentioned it much here, I actually HAVE been coaching all summer for free - ha! I started with a small group of youth in my neighborhood and word got out fairly quickly that Triathlon practice and racing is way more fun than soccer, baseball, lacrosse, etc, and our little group swelled up fairly quickly to 25 racers ages 6 through 11. For better or worse I actually had to apply the brakes halfway through the summer as that many kids across that wide of an age-group became somewhat unmanageable. While I see this activity really as community outreach and in no way a business, we are in negotiations with a local pro-shop (the one I currently race for) as well as the big local club team. We are talking with them about how we have managed to make it work, with a goal of expanding the model to other in-town neighborhoods, and possibly even running our own race in the city, as all of the current youth team opportunities and races are way out in the 'burbs. In our season end meeting the parents of our group have advocated that we actually charge a fee for a variety of reasons, surprisingly one of which is the accountability it actually brings to the kids and the parents. We are weighing our options, but in no way would the fees be geared toward generating income - I am just not interested in doing this as a business. Instead it would go toward kits, training aids, facility rental, access to coaching specialists (swim workshops, for example) travel, race fees, USAT membership, and even perhaps scholarships for athletes that may not be able to afford some of these things. All-in-all it was a very eye-opening and heart-warming meeting.

Yes, it is!

x3 - very cool Rusty.

Thanks guys - it has been a lot of fun and I am looking forward to next year. Very glad I broke down and allowed myself to be badgered in to it. I am very luck to have two other coaches to work with that while they don't have any background in triathlon they have tons of experience coaching youth sports. The biggest resource though is the third person that works with us as a team manager of sorts: she handles all of the communication and coordination with the parents and kids - really a godsend. The learning curve has been steep but manageable - we have some kids that will be 12 next season and I already foresee we will have to do some things different with them. I got my USAT level 1 certification this past summer. I found the clinic to at times be really good and really bad depending on the topic and who was presenting. I made a handful of good contacts there that have been a big help, along with access to additional USAT resources for certified coaches. All of that has been a big help for someone that has no background in coaching, sports physiology, etc. I am also scheduled for a youth clinic in January and hope to connect with additional folks that are specifically coaching youth.

I had big hopes for the coaching mentor group Shane tried to get going (thanks for the initial resources and support Shane and Yanti if you two are still reading this thread). But it got derailed fairly quickly (in my mind) by folks that just wanted to complain a lot, despite Shane's best efforts otherwise. The animus toward the USAT coaching model by a couple of folks was a bit of a downer. I mean, it was almost like we were talking about the Paleo Diet or peeing in the transition tent or something. Like most things in life I think you have to take the good with the bad - for me the process has been generally good, but I have a loooong way to go beyond what the basic certification has to offer.

I the middle of some work travel, and about to hop on another plane, but I hope everyone is doing well - this month has been a bit of a planned work-induced layoff, and I have already gained 8 pounds - aaaauuuuggggg! In 5 more days I will be able (hopefully!) to get back on some semblance of a somewhat respectable schedule. Safe training everyone!

*edited to add a little sarcasm

Is there bacon? 

I haven't coached tri, but do have a few years experience in soccer & basketball with 12-18 yr olds, teenage years, and both boys & girls. Definite differences within that range and could only see more still going younger. I think it would be fun to do once in awhile, but all the time would get tough. At least with having another full time job going.

Ran a very tough 17 today.   What was worse was that our route planning sucked and I hit the planned time 2-3 miles from home, all downhill (ouch).   Friend that I am doing the marathon with just ran it all downhill, an hour later I was back at the car

In other news, I just found myself looking at the IM Canada reg page, and flights, and hotels....   may reserve a hotel room.  You know, just in case....

Originally posted by mndymond Really slowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. HM today. Like 40min off PR slow. Just kind of depressing. I suppose that's what happens though with injury and training trials. On the plus side my ankles generally cooperated. Just weird. There was beer on the course! Had some at 13-14k. Figured might as well lol. My uncle had 2 little cups. The ongoing joke right now is that we are the lame horses. He developed a foot drop this week and I have ankle/foot problems. Lame horses need beer? TURKEY TIME!!! Gobble gobble my Canadian friends! What does the French turkey say?

Sucks about the ankle/foot problems Melissa but beer tends to help with many things.  

I think it's still gobble, gobble, just with an accent?  

I'm stuck working at the office in Edmonton.  No turkey for me.  

I have no beer.  I am sitting in an office in the Canada Place building. 

/pity party.

I'm going to try to get to the Peter hemmingway pool tomorrow, it's only 3k from my hotel and setup as 50m lane swimming.  It's been quite a while since I swam long course