Is this is a "fit" for me?
Hi All,
I have been on the EN website and browsing for several days now. I signed up for the 7 day free trial and am considering joining. However....I have some questions. I happended upon this website through the Internet as I am "triathlon shopping" and want to find a coach/tri goup that is the best fit for my goals. Any thoughts/insight would be much appreciated.
A little background. I have been participating in triathlons since 2003. Mostly Oly's, and in 2011, Half IM's. I pretty much place in the top 10-20% in my age group and am now looking to ramp it up competitively.
I am a married, mother of five, work part-time female. My life is busy, but so is everyone else's!
So far much of what I have seen has been positive. But here's my concern: (please don't be offended). My husband and I are triathletes and triathlon is a huge part of our lives. (Husband's in the fitness industry.) Sometimes, too much information and opinions is not a good thing. The last couple of years I have backed off from discussing my training- "what are you doing? Oh, this is what I'm doing..." kind of talk. It is not helpful to me. I pretty much swim, bike, run, lift, alone.
Right now I am working on changing my body composition to be more competitive. I do lift and it has always been a part of my training. What's up with the no lifting?
Nutrition is a big deal, too. I am continuing to tweak my nutrition but can do that on my own and use the forums here for some insight.
Will the plans that Coach Rich and Patrick write up make me faster? I've had training plans like these before. I know it might be different if I join, but how so?
I'm struggling with: Do I need a personalized coach to work with? Or can the coaches here at EN be the right guys? They have proven themselves by their resumes, but will they have the time for me if I need them? Just not sure...
How personalized is the training? I wrote down that my B race, which is my first, is Kansas in early June. I received the plan, with the buildup to my A race in August. BUT, I want to do really well in Kansas in June, too. I need/want coaching on that race as well. Not just my A race in August. Does this make sense?
I appreciate any input!
Comments
Hi Anna,
I'll let the others answer most of your q's but from me:
Anyway, enough from me. More valuable to here directly from the members but I wanted to point out the A/B thing above
Should tell you something that the one of the coaches responded to your post within an hour.
All good questions. Hope I can provide some useful responses.
I'm a married father of three. Wife and I are both full time out-of-home employed. Kids are in a bejillion activities and I sit on 3 community service boards. Since joining EN, I've gone from being "upper half" to being roughly "top 10%" of my age group....although I'm 49 for 2013, so we'll see if I can keep that up! A really large fraction of the people here are in similar family situations as you. People are of all sorts of levels of competitive levels, from those who just want to get through their first IM to those who are regularly qualifying for the 70.3 champs to those who qualify for Kona. While there are differences in how those people should approach their training, there are many more similarities. The approach here is to lay out the 95% solution for 95% of the people, and then figure out what the 5% fix is for you...and we do that through the forums, direct feedback from the coaches, and so on.
Nutrition: There is a big enough group of people here that there is probably a useful number of people doing the same approach that you are. You'll find a group who subscribe to the paleo diet, others who are vegetarians or vegans, and those who really, really like bacon. The coaches have some recommendations regarding nutrition, but the bottom line is that there will be a "support group" for you regardless of your approach. And there is a generalized "I'm trying to cut down my weight" active group that's helpful for just general accountability.
No lifting: This is about time-efficiency. The Return on Investment (ROI) approach suggests that extensive lifting is not a good way to spend your time if your primary goal is to get faster. I could show you the math (and have done in other posts), but for example, on an IM bike ride, you don't press more than 20 lbs of force with your feet most of the time! If you are an older athlete or are trying to achieve other goals, then some lifting does make some sense, and you will see that sort of thing discussed at this deeper level within the forums.
Plans: It's hard for us to comment on how the plans available here compare to what you have seen before because obviously we don't know what you've seen before. But to the point, the plans here are legit. I am a guy who has made most of the big gains I am going to make and struggles to get marginally faster in metrics... but the rest of knowing how to race and the support on that (i.e., race execution) is really invaluable about getting across the finish line faster. I've been a member for a few years now, so (while the plans aren't static) I could surely just use the same plan as I did last year, but I still pay a monthly fee just to be here and converse with other people and get that support.
Availability of Rich and Patrick: The forums have two threads ("macro" and "micro") that provide ONLY 1-on-1 coach support (save that the posts are publicly visible). The level of response is very much like what you would get from a responsible remote coach who deals with you mostly by email, i.e., you get a direct response to your query within a day or so most of the time. Once you have been around a while, you will also figure out that there are some things that you want to ask the coaches directly, but other things that you can ask the community. In general, you'll get several good answers in a matter of hours there. I have not taken advantage of it, but there has been a policy posted recently where you can pay hourly for really really personal one-on-one time...but the truth is that the vast majority of us don't need to go that direction.
For the record, my "early A race" is also Kansas. I've done it 3 times before, and placed reasonably well in my age group. Matt Aaronson is another guy who is probably is doing that race again and qualified for Las Vegas on it. There are a whole bunch of us who have done that race and know it well. Your coaching isn't limited to one race per year...the idea of the A/B race instead of that is more about picking plans that make sense. I haven't seen your season plan, but I imagine you are doing a HIM plan that will target KS and then jump into the last 10 weeks or so of an IM plan. If your A race was only 6 weeks after KS, instead you might be doing the IM plan for the whole 12 weeks before your IM race and then "hacking" the key weeks around the KS race. Does this make sense? It's about prioritizing and choosing what plan you're not more than how much "attention" you get.
Bottom line: Those of us who are here are generally here because it works for us. There's no guarantee that EN is for you, but since the commitment is only month to month, there's little harm in giving it a go and seeing if it works for you! Good luck in whatever you decide.
So far much of what I have seen has been positive. But here's my concern: (please don't be offended). My husband and I are triathletes and triathlon is a huge part of our lives. (Husband's in the fitness industry.) Sometimes, too much information and opinions is not a good thing. The last couple of years I have backed off from discussing my training- "what are you doing? Oh, this is what I'm doing..." kind of talk. It is not helpful to me. I pretty much swim, bike, run, lift, alone.
(Anne, I completely understand your comment about not sharing your workouts and how they are going. Let me assure you that at no time do you need to share anything about your training on this site. Those that do, do it for motivation. I would hazard to guess that there are more members who do not share how their training is going then those that do)
Right now I am working on changing my body composition to be more competitive. I do lift and it has always been a part of my training. What's up with the no lifting?
(This is a recommendation. What draws people to EN other than the great programming is the fact that they ask us to do less work, but more intensely. However, if you have the time and want to lift, there are not issues with that, as long as the lifting is not affecting your downstream workout. I lifted last season and had not problems completing all of my workouts. If this is something that you have been doing, you can continue, and then reevaluate if you find that it is interfering with your Swim, bike, run)
Nutrition is a big deal, too. I am continuing to tweak my nutrition but can do that on my own and use the forums here for some insight. (and we have a discount with the Core Diet that you could check out. Our coaches are not dietitians and are very good and staying within their scope of practice)
Will the plans that Coach Rich and Patrick write up make me faster? I've had training plans like these before. I know it might be different if I join, but how so? (this is a loaded question. Its hard to answer because I am unfamiliar with the plans that you followed before. Did your previous plans testing you on a regular basis and then adjust your training according to the new numbers? Did your previous plans ask you to concentrate on bike and run only in the Outseason for 14 weeks, getting you stronger as a cyclist and a runner? I think you see where I am going Anne. Hard to answer)
I'm struggling with: Do I need a personalized coach to work with? (I worked with a private coach for 6 years. I get more from this team than I did from her) Or can the coaches here at EN be the right guys? (Wont know until you try) They have proven themselves by their resumes, but will they have the time for me if I need them? Just not sure... (that is what the macro and micro threads are for and remember that we have a weekly live chat that you can ask questions and get answers immediately)
How personalized is the training? I wrote down that my B race, which is my first, is Kansas in early June. I received the plan, with the buildup to my A race in August. BUT, I want to do really well in Kansas in June, too. I need/want coaching on that race as well. Not just my A race in August. Does this make sense? (looks like Coach Rich answered your question above).
I hope this helps Anne. Perhaps some of our Wickedly Smart Members will way in. Whether you decide to join or not, I wish you the best in your 2013 season.
Anna - Your goal is to raise your game on race day. The things that will make that happen won't be found in any training plan, but in how you prepare yourself and your equipment to race, and what choices you make on race day. Any decent training plan, if followed with consistency, can get you fit enough to race well. But what about all the other things, arguably more important when you are trying to get over that hump. A short, incomplete list: how is you big set up on race day, where should you seed yourself in the swim, and how do you you pace yourself in the water? How do you set up your bike computer to give you the best information, how do you pace yourself on the bike? What should you do (and not do) during transition? How do you manage nutrition during the race? What speed do you start out on the run? What do you do if someone in you AG passes you in the first mile? What should you do if the temp is in the 80s with humidity to match? Like I said, the list is endless.
It's not apparent now, because almost all of u are not racing anytime soon, but come summer, the forums are filled with these topics, and much more, specifically related to how to manage yourself on race day. It ends up being a lot of seemingly little things, but they can all add up to one big thing - that PR and quaification you're looking for.
If I were you, I'd look for a coach who emphasized racing - strategy, tactics, and all the little and big things that can go wrong but can be avoided. That's the fundamental reaosn I started with EN in 2009 - these guys know how to race, and make no bones about how they define success. Not by absolute times or places, but by helping each of us achieve our own personal best, given our genetics and life situation. They do this through over-the-top customer service, continous improvement of their training plans, and corraling a world wide community of decdicated tri-geeks who view themselves as a learning community.
I'll cut against the grain here. The EN style of training is low hours, high intensity. This intensity carries a risk; one that is hardly ever discussed within the Haus. And that risk is burn-out or physical injury. Loads of athletes have crept away, broken down, ashamed that they didn't "have it", unaware that they weren't alone.
EN has plenty of success stories, but it's a self-selecting group, one that thrives on this style of training.
No matter what, EN is the very best in the triathlon industry in educating its athletes in race execution. Diddle around with the training all you want, but study and absorb the race execution advice to achieve the best results possible on race day.
Anna
Specifically to your question of "will they have time for me", let me share my experience. I am a new member having joined in October. In early december i had a bike crash and broke my hip. A couple weeks later i posted in the medical forums asking for advice and input. The first 2 people to reply were R & P. Patrick and I also spoke live and he provided me with more detailed recovery advice as he had suffered a similar injury a few years back. Going through my injury, this team has been incredibly supportive, both with real tangible recovery advice, and by offering emotional support.
More generally, you would be hard pressed to find a more knowledgeable group of individuals in the tri space. Go check out the forums and you will see what i mean. Also, i haven't been able to take advantage of this yet, but prior to racing you can post your race plan where the team provides input and suggestions BEFORE you race. None of us have the time or money to learn from the school of hard knocks if it can be avoided. I think that's a huge advantage and is in line with what others have stated about the race execution expertise that exists within EN.
Trust me, EN rocks! Good luck with whatever you decide!
Hi Anna
one thing that may make this easier for you within EN is that everyone is training under the same basic philosophy of fast then far. Even though some people do tweak their training, this foundation is the same and allows for some variations on things, but not a major debate. R & P also encourage us to try different things in small groups, gathering data along the way in order to see if these slight changes might be an overall benefit to the EN training they revise each year. As Brenda said, you can post when/if you want and people are here to help, not judge.
welcome
Thanks so much for the replies! I am in; I am going to give it a go and am hoping for an awesome season. Part of the reason why I decided to join is because, first of all, Coach Rich responded within an hour. Impressive. And you all seem to be passionate about this group. How can one not notice that? So thanks again!
Welcome to da Haus, Anna!
Anna -- Welcome!!
Anna, welcome aboard!
Hopefully you can see why it's so difficult for Patrick and I to explain what goes on here -- in our experience, when we say "coaching," people apply their own definitions to that word regarding delivery of service, how feedback is given, etc. What you see here has been developed organically by a community with a 6, going on 7yr history. Our solution is to just let people inside from time to time and let them select themselves.