Self Coached IM? How did it go? (Page 2)

The only coaching I found was way out of my budget, so I went on my own and followed the Be Iron Fit plan as well - started out with the competitive plan, backed down to intermediate toward the end because my hours at work got crazier and my time and energy became more limited.

I didn't finish in the time I thought I could have, but that was due to a few things: 1. especially strong current that day, leading to a slower swim for most everyone, 2. a total fluke foot injury on the bike that required me to slow down and spend some time getting medical help, and 3. I didn't push the run as much as I could've - I knew I had plenty of time to finish, but wasn't going to hit my previous goals, so I didn't care to push myself until I was miserable.

Oh, I got a stress fracture early on in training, so when I could run again, the focus of my run training pretty much became "don't hurt yourself!!"

But yeah, I finished (16:28), even with all those issues, and I'm pretty slow and hadn't done anything longer than an Oly before I started training. My first HIM was in September and it was a 6:48. Again, no coach. So I think you'd be fine.

One last note: I did swim with a masters group 1.5 hours twice a week, instead of following the swim workouts in the plan. That was a great choice FOR ME as I still needed quite a bit of help with form, and I have a tendency not to push myself too hard when I swim solo.

Self coached using Be Iron Fit competitive plan (read the whole book, just just the plan). Training went good.  Race went great and finished better than planned (sub 11) at IMFL.

Only person I ever talked about my training was my wife and lots of talking to myself on 5+ hour bike rides.

I would definitely do similar training again, although I have no problem motivating myself.  When/if you have questions, there are many online smarter, wiser, and willing to listen.   

One of the best parts of having a coach is letting someone else look at the big picture and worry about the details.

To OP you have a curious personality and ask many questions.  How would you feel about giving up control of training to someone else?

Do you enjoy planning training and decide how it needs to be adjusted or do you enjoy doing workouts and rather have someone else put together your training, look at big picture, and be there to answer questions and coach you?

I like doing workouts. I like having a coach listen to my goals, plan my season, my week around my schedule, and I can focus on doing the workouts.

If you doubt a lot and second guess your training, your overall program, a coach can help take that away.

That would be the only (and VERY valuable) thing that would make it worth it.  I'm not sure if I would have better gains, but if I could save the hours a week analizing, and stressing, and the brain damage of planning and tracking and evaluating, it would be wonderful.

Just tell me what to do and I will do it.

4 IM's ~ All Self Coached.  (1 DNF ~ equipment failure).

I would like to try a coach someday, just to see if it would change anything for me.  My times range from 14:29 to 16:46.  I'm a happy finisher .  BUT, I would love to see if a coached IM year would make any difference.  I'd LOVE to break 14 hours, will try one more time on my own (IMCOZ) and then may consider giving a coach a try.

I do have to admit, the one IM that probably would have made the most difference with a coach (for me) would be IMLP (16:46).  Tough as nails bike course ~ almost took this weak azz biker out!  I'm not even sure a coach could have done anything for me on that one....LOL.

ETA: Plans used.

1st IM(WI '09) - BT 20 Week

2nd IM(FL '10) - Fitzgerald Level 3

3rd IM(LOU '11)- Fitzgerald Level 7

4th IM(LP '12) - Be Iron Fit Competitive

**5th IM(COZ '13) - Will be going back to Fitzgerald (my favorite of the 3 used)**

I did beach to battleship this year and I followed 13 weeks to a 13 hour iron man training plan by Gale Bernhardt (link to plan http://www.cluboceano.com/13.htm). 

This was a great program for me as I had been training and had a good base (this is not a program for everyone) - it also fit my limitations on training time/family etc.  I added some additional brick work and talked to everyone I knew that had completed an IronMan and I got a lot of good advice, and focused on taking the suggestions that made sense for me. 

In the end the results could not have been better, I exceeded my 13hr goal by an hour and a half (11:29 finish)...  When it comes to the race, it is all about you and your will to compete!

I think that is a good reason to hire a coach.  If you work shift work or your life doesn't follow a Mon to Fri 9 - 5 schedule a coach can write a training plan for you that fits your life.  You would want to make sure the coach you hired was willing to work with you to make an individualized plan for your needs.

I was self-coached for my first three years of racing triathlons. I did Beach-2-Battleship at the end of year 2 in 9:52, and qualified for Vegas 70.3 in my third season, also winning two local sprint races.

This year I was lucky to be selected by a coaching service to be sponsored and receive free coaching for the year. So far, it is taking the guess work out of training. My new coach is already pushing me, but I'm hoping it gets me to Kona!

1st IM 12:48:15 no coach and didn't follow any set plan.  I'm no rocket but I had a blast.  I think it depends on the person.  My schedule is so wack that organizing my training with another person is out of the question.  But I like training alone anyhow.  Most people do better with others egging them on, some kinda have to have someone kicking them in the butt.  I think if I had the time and $ I'd go with a coach.  It can only help.

This winter I started with a few swim coaching coaching w/ Marty Gaal.  reat coach and I'm getting faster.