Hiring a coach?

It was after the Columbia Triathlon that I started to think about hiring a coach. Like most beginners to the sport I was not training as efficiently as I should be. I would ride when I could, swim a couple times a week and run maybe once a week. After Columbia and Cascade Lake I knew that approach was not working.

I had been doing some research into on line coaching services but really had no way of knowing if the services worked and I was not fond of having to commit to a coach I had never met. I think personal interaction is important and I kept searching. I decided I would like to find a local coach if I could.

I was going to more of the Annapolis Triathlon Club meeting and had met one of the members that was also responsible for the education clinics the club offered. His name was Ashley Halsey and it turns out he was a triathlon coach. I had listed to him talk at a few meetings and he seemed very knowledgeable. I decided I would contact him about my plans for the Florida Ironman and about hiring him as a coach.

Ashley and I had a long talk on the phone about my history of weight loss surgery and my triathlon training goals. I also asked him about his triathlon experience and he talked to me about his coaching philosophy. I knew in that first conversation I wanted to work with him. I needed someone that had the knowledge to guide me and help me plan for the Florida Ironman. But I also needed someone I could correspond with on a regular basis. I usually have a lot of questions and I didn't want a coach that was going to charge me every time I had a question. Ashley let me know up front that he did not believe in that type of arrangement. If he agreed to coach me I could ask as many questions as I needed and he was there to help me. He told me that he normally works with someone for a full year to train for an IronMan. But he understood my goal and desire to do this race and said if I was willing to train with a very aggressive schedule he could get me to a point where I would be prepared to finish the Florida IronMan in November.

So with that initial phone call I had a coach. Within a week I had a training schedule posted on Training Peaks. I felt good about the decision and I loved the idea of a weekly schedule that I could follow. I now had a coach that would outline and track my workouts and progress. Plus I had someone with much more experience than me to talk with about my training and race results. I was ready to kick my training into high gear.

The only thing Ashley asked that I do before getting started with him was to get the medical ok from my gastric bypass surgeon before the intense training started. So I made an appointment with Dr.Lin at George Washington Hospital. I explained what I had been doing over the last year and that I intended to race the Florida IronMan in November of 2009. Dr. Lin thought that given my success with the surgery over the last six years, there was no reason that I could not train and participate in the IronMan Florida. So with the medical ok and a coach lined up it was time let the serious training begin.