Thinking about signing up for coaching

[OakLeaf]

I'm actually considering hiring a RUNNING coach, but posting here to get more eyeballs, since I don't think there's probably much difference in the basic questions.

For those of you who've used a coach to help you meet personal goals, how did you choose one? Were you happy with the program at the end of it, and if not, what would you have done differently?

As far as "remote" vs in-person coaching, some of the advantages/disadvantages are obvious: coach's ability to observe and tweak form issues, having to drive long distances to the workouts, greater feeling of accountabillity, schedule flexibility, price. Are there other reasons I should think harder about in-person coaching? FWIW, if I choose a remote coach (or decide to stay self-coached), I'll probably also do another Chi Running workshop at some point in the season to brush up.

How important are the coach's own sporting credentials and personal race results, vs. their coaching experience (which real information is hard to find when you're talking about someone coaching people at my level)?

And ... if you've used and would recommend a remote running coach, who were they?

TIA,

Oak

[Catrin]

I am not a runner, but I've a couple of training partners at the gym who use a remote coach. Their coaches sends them detailed training plans for each week and both women appear to be satisfied with the results of this approach. I don't know how often they send videos to their coaches but I know they have.

[Crankin]

My exchange student son has built a very healthy coaching business, quite a bit of it on line. They do have people who come to them, but he designs plans for people all over the world. Even though this is for cycling, I think the same principle applies. Find someone competent and I am sure a remote coach will be fine.

[GLC1968]

Oak - you might want to do a search on Beginnertriathlete.com (http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/) for information on hiring coaches. The question comes up a lot and there is usually a good discussion about it. I know you don't want a full tri coach, but like you said, the principles are the same. Do a search in the 'tri talk' forum. There are a lot of successful coaches and athletes of all levels on that board, so you tend to get a good mix of answers to questions like that.

I think someone's coaching credentials are way more important than their own racing results. And above all else, personality fit with you is critical. Finding that locally may be tough, depending on your market.