Time for me, Pat, to start to share in all the wonderful experiences and knowledge I’ve acquired racing at velodromes around the USA and the World. Plus, I’ve been lucky to have some great coaches encourage and train me to get some personally rewarding results and experiences. I’ll share some of that knowledge as well. Currently I host Zoom trainer rides at no charge for all levels of cycling enthusiasts through the winter months. Connect with me to get a free invitation to any or all the upcoming rides. About an hour per event, ride at your own pace and intensity within a suggested structure for each ride. New to cycling or to having a coach to help you improve on your cycling? Connect with me and we can cooperatively build a variety of training options that will help you succeed in that next cycling challenge.
My Philosophy
Fit for Fun, Fit for Sport, Fit for Life
My Vision
To build a coach athlete relationship that allows us both the athlete and the coach to grow, prosper and exceed expectations. To strive for and achieve goals never thought possible.
My Method
I use time tested traditional methods of training that are based on science and results-based methods. Data like TSS , FTP monitoring as well as personal communication with athletes sharing how they feel during a progressive training period over at least a year long training period to build and improve performance keyed on specific goal events. I use Training Peaks as my tracking mechanism, so athletes need to have at least Basic Training Peaks account, which is free. I would prefer all my athletes have a Premium account, Training Peaks fee for Premium is about $130 per year. (premium includes unlimited use of the TP’s Virtual ride platform)
Goals
My goals are based on your goals. I would like you to become the best version of you, athletically, you can be. There is no one goal that fits all. What does fit is to improve and be the best you can be at a moment in time. Success can be measured in various ways, a podium spot, a best time for a timed event, finishing an event you have dreamed about, a best, never thought I could do that success. A coach and athlete collaboration is a very special relationship where feelings, desires and weaknesses can be openly talked about to build a plan of success. Most athletes discover that success in the process becomes the best overall goal.
There are probably 1,000’s maybe millions of coaches around the world and with SM, there seems to be a new person promoting their coaching ability every time you open a media platform.
I understand the desire for those looking for a new career to take on a coach role, create a following and an income stream. Anyone can readily see how easy it is to create an account, post some content, hope to go viral, and then attract tons of subscribers, it’s the world we live in. Is that the kind of coach you look for and value? If yes, why? What do they have to offer, what is their background, training, are they reputable, can you trust them to guide you? Are they just the cheapest product in the game? Who created the app, who is the financial backer of the app and what is their motivation? Are they really looking out for your welfare? Lots of questions that deserve answers before committing to building a relationship.
To be clear, the following are my thoughts, ideas and goals related to a coach/athlete relationship. Other coaches have their own ideas and motivations that may be similar but may be entirely different than mine.
I think there often is a misunderstanding by athletes at all levels who have never had a one-to-one coach relationship. They may have previously self-coached or have used some kind of virtual coaching platform that can potentially help the user perform better for a period. It usually is a cut and paste process, maybe calendaring, maybe not, a haphazard cherry picking of work outs the athlete likes, done with little overall planning for a long season or set of seasons.
A coach/athlete relationship and process, in my mind is not a duplication of that cut and paste process. As a coach, I don’t randomly select a variety of workouts from my workout library and load them onto a platform calendar at the end of as weekend and then move on to the next athlete. My process is to communicate with the athlete, try to convince them to create and prioritize appropriate goals that cover a season or longer time span. My process is to get them to commit to a season long training plan early in the year, help guide them making realistic goals and then collaboratively create something close to what is called an Annual Training Plan.
Does that process work, well, maybe. The challenges are numerous. Life is not so easily calendared with precision. You know what happens, Life, Family, Injury, Work, Financial demands, the list goes on. But the goal is to form that plan early in the year which then allows the coach to select a progressive build of workouts that challenge the athlete to grow and increase performance required for the 2 to 3 max top or “A” goal events during a season. What makes the plan not work so well is when the athlete significantly changes the goals which plays havoc on the months in the planning annual training plan. Goals change, maybe the reason is unavoidable but often the changes are just made without any fore thought about the process already in place. The communication between coach and athlete starts to fail a bit. The result then becomes chaotic corrections to what was agreed on in the early year. The coach is left trying to build a patchwork plan to address the new goals. Frustrating and unproductive for results and potentially damaging the coaching relationship.
Quality communication is part of the solution and why private coaching is so much more than platform or virtual programs. Communication with a real person as a coach includes small notes and comments about how the current plan is going, how the athlete is feeling, are there home, work and life issues affecting the current plan. Platforms like the one I use, Training Peaks, has an easy way to add notes, adjust perceived exertion scales, ways to communicate that are so easy and painlessly simple. The athlete and coach are both in the plan and process together and the overall goal is success in events but also success and joy in the life and training process.