# First time with a coach



## The Human G-Nome (Aug 26, 2002)

Background: Started racing in 2002. Raced till 2009 and then took 3 years off the bike completely. As a Cat 5, I podium'd 4 out of 10 races, and got top 10 in everything else in a tough district after being on a bicycle for about 6 months. Cat'd up to 3 in 2 years, and I stayed there all the way until my semi-retirement. During my last year, I could top 10 Open Masters fields for most races. 

After being off the bike for so long, I started riding again this past July, and I've been at it ever since. I picked up a coach (very successful Cat 1), and I've been with him for a little over a month now. I actually did my first ever structured intervals, and it astounds me that I was any kind of racer before, and yet never found it important enough to do this. 

So far, in just one month, on a 7:30 min climb, my HR is 23 bpm lower for the exact same power output. I am sure that a bike fitting also plays some role in this, but I am amazed at the differences I'm already discovering. I was the kind of person who always thought that a coach was unnecessary, and that I could just follow my own loose plan and get just about the same benefits, but I know that I was fooling myself.

Even if you are the type of person that can read Friel, give yourself a nuanced plan, and follow it to the letter, that still isn't going to take the place of the motivation that answering to a coach will give you. It never even crosses my mind to skip a workout now, and when my plan calls for something specific, I'm following it to the letter without fail. 

I also used to have reservations about too much structure in relation to burnout, but I'm finding it to be just the opposite. In any case, if you're one of those people who considered a coach but just haven't made the leap, I think you owe it to yourself to find a good one and at least give it 3 months to see if it suits you.


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## Cableguy (Jun 6, 2010)

The Human G-Nome said:


> So far, in just one month, on a 7:30 min climb, my HR is 23 bpm lower for the exact same power output. I am sure that a bike fitting also plays some role in this, but I am amazed at the differences I'm already discovering. I was the kind of person who always thought that a coach was unnecessary, and that I could just follow my own loose plan and get just about the same benefits, but I know that I was fooling myself.


You said you had been riding again since July, and one month after getting a coach your HR is 23 lower for the same power output on a climb? Unless you did no hard efforts at all before the coach, I don't really see how that is physically possible...

What were you doing before the coach, what is he having you do now? 

Anyways glad to hear you're seeing results


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## The Human G-Nome (Aug 26, 2002)

Your are correct that there are so many factors that come into play. Diet that week, training volume leading up to that ride, sleep, intensity on the ride prior to the climb, etc. All factor in somewhat. That said, I'm just going by what Strava tells me. Also note that I had a bike fitting since the January 19th log. 

Jan 19, 2013 9.9mi/h 157bpm 751 7:29
Feb 12, 2013 9.8mi/h 135bpm 748 7:31

My coach has me doing my first structured intervals... ever. Lots of 1, 2, and 4 minute SMSP stuff in blocks of 2 and 3 days at a time. Before that, I was doing tons of, ironically, climbing, mostly in Z3/Z4 with no structure at all. 



Cableguy said:


> You said you had been riding again since July, and one month after getting a coach your HR is 23 lower for the same power output on a climb? Unless you did no hard efforts at all before the coach, I don't really see how that is physically possible...
> 
> What were you doing before the coach, what is he having you do now?
> 
> Anyways glad to hear you're seeing results


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## Cableguy (Jun 6, 2010)

The Human G-Nome said:


> Jan 19, 2013 9.9mi/h 157bpm 751 7:29
> Feb 12, 2013 9.8mi/h 135bpm 748 7:31
> 
> My coach has me doing my first structured intervals... ever. Lots of 1, 2, and 4 minute SMSP stuff in blocks of 2 and 3 days at a time. Before that, I was doing tons of, ironically, climbing, mostly in Z3/Z4 with no structure at all.


Oh you were talking about climb times, not actual power. Even though you were only going about 10mph, the wind can still have a big impact on your speed. The diff between a 10mph headwind and 10mph tailwind on that climb might be something like 40 watts.

But that aside, if you never went fully anaerobic before that could make a big difference... I doubt that 23bpm is an accurate representation of your improvement though.


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## The Human G-Nome (Aug 26, 2002)

Although the other factors I mentioned certainly factor in to the equation, wind is not one of this factors on this particular climb. In my training before, I did have stretches of Z5 climbing, but nothing like what I've been going through for the past month. In fact, when we did my initial testing assessment, almost everything segment I tested on ended up a PR. I wish I could lend you the watts for the comparison to make this more scientific, but unfortunately only the latest climb has watts from my power meter while the the previous attempt only had estimated Strava watts which are basically meaningless. 



Cableguy said:


> Oh you were talking about climb times, not actual power. Even though you were only going about 10mph, the wind can still have a big impact on your speed. The diff between a 10mph headwind and 10mph tailwind on that climb might be something like 40 watts.
> 
> But that aside, if you never went fully anaerobic before that could make a big difference... I doubt that 23bpm is an accurate representation of your improvement though.


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