What I wish I knew before investing in a coach

Getting into endurance sports is exciting. Whether you are training for your first 5K, triathlon, cycling event, or Ironman, there is a steep learning curve. You are learning how to train, fuel, recover, and understand what your body is telling you.

The challenge is that you often do not know what you do not know.

That can leave beginner athletes vulnerable to misinformation, unnecessary expenses, poorly designed training plans, and services that promise results without the expertise to support them.

Not every bad experience comes from someone intentionally trying to mislead an athlete. Sometimes it comes down to inexperience, outdated information, a lack of individualization, or a business model that prioritizes selling over athlete development. Regardless of the reason, the athlete pays the price through wasted time, money, frustration, or even injury.

Why I Coach the Way I Do

Let’s go back about 18 years, when I was still in the Navy and decided to return to running and cycling. I had been an athlete since I was eight and wanted to compete again, so I bought a bike, which quickly turned into four, and hired my first coach.

Within five months, I started noticing a pattern. The communication felt canned, the workouts looked nearly identical week after week, and there was little meaningful variation or progression. After an initial improvement from structured training, my progress stalled. I eventually moved on from that coach after six months, tried another program, and found myself facing many of the same problems.

Those experiences taught me something important. I didn’t yet know enough to recognize what was missing or how to evaluate the quality of the coaching I was receiving. When you lack that knowledge, it is easy to trust a process simply because someone presents it as the right way to train.

Eventually, I decided to learn the process myself. I earned my first coaching certification through USA Cycling, followed by further education in bike fitting, run gait analysis, Ironman U, USA Triathlon, and USA Track & Field. What started as a personal pursuit became a commitment to understanding the science and application of training, movement, performance, and athlete development.

I wanted to understand not just how to train, but why different approaches work and how to apply them effectively. I continued coaching myself, earned my elite card, and went on to achieve multiple national and state titles.

My experience as both a coach and a high level athlete has continually shaped how I approach performance. I believe expertise comes from combining education, practical application, critical thinking, and a willingness to keep learning.

I share this because I have been on the other side of the equation. I have invested time, money, and trust into approaches that weren’t right for me. I know how easy it is to assume that someone with experience or credentials must be a good coach. The reality is that athletic accomplishments and certifications alone do not guarantee coaching competence.

That is why athlete education matters so much. You shouldn’t have to learn every lesson the hard way, waste months following a process that isn’t working, or spend money on things you don’t need simply because you don’t know what questions to ask.

My goal is to help athletes make informed decisions, understand their training, recognize quality guidance, and avoid mistakes I made myself.

Here are some things every endurance athlete should understand before investing in their development.

A Training Plan Is Not the Same as Coaching

One of the most common mistakes new athletes make is assuming that purchasing a training plan is equivalent to having a coach.

A training plan gives you a schedule. Coaching requires the ability to evaluate that schedule against your individual needs, assess your response to training, and make adjustments as you progress.

Your training should account for your current fitness, training history, experience, available time, injury history, goals, and ability to recover. It should also evolve as your fitness changes.

A generic plan can be a reasonable starting point for some athletes. The problem arises when it is marketed as a personalized solution despite offering little or no individualization.

Look for a coach who can explain why your workouts are prescribed, how your training is tailored to you, and how your progress will be evaluated. If all you receive is a calendar of workouts with no meaningful feedback or adjustments, understand what you are actually paying for.

Coaching is a two way street built on ongoing communication, guidance, and education. Your coach should be invested in understanding how you respond to training, not simply checking whether you completed it.

Understand Who You Are Taking Advice From

Endurance sports are full of people willing to give advice. Just look at any Facebook group. Some have extensive education and experience, while others rely primarily on their own athletic accomplishments or information they’ve picked up along the way.

I see an incredible amount of misinformation in these groups about training, bike fitting, running mechanics, and just about everything in between. The problem is that whether you are new to the sport or an experienced athlete, it can be difficult to distinguish sound advice from someone simply sharing an opinion. When that advice is delivered confidently, it is easy to mistake confidence for competence.

Being a successful athlete does not automatically make someone a good coach. Likewise, having a certification does not automatically make someone an expert in every aspect of endurance performance. Experience, education, continuing professional development, and the ability to apply knowledge to different athletes all matter.

Ask about a coach’s qualifications, experience working with athletes at your level, and approach to training. Look for someone who can explain the reasoning behind their recommendations rather than simply telling you what to do.

Be cautious of anyone who treats questions as a challenge to their authority. A good coach should be comfortable explaining their decisions and acknowledging when something falls outside their area of expertise.

Remember, what worked for one athlete may not work for another. Individual physiology, training history, movement patterns, and lifestyle all influence the outcome.

Do Not Confuse Expensive Equipment With Better Performance

Cycling and triathlon can become expensive very quickly. Between bikes, power meters, carbon wheels, aerodynamic equipment, running shoes, watches, and other technology, it is easy to believe that the next purchase will unlock the performance you are chasing.

Sometimes equipment makes a meaningful difference. Sometimes it addresses a genuine need. But sometimes you are being sold a solution to a problem you do not have.

Beginners are particularly susceptible because they may not yet understand which equipment investments will meaningfully improve their performance and which offer marginal benefits.

Before spending money, ask what problem the product solves, whether that problem actually applies to you, and whether there is evidence to support the claimed benefit.

A properly fitted bike, appropriate running shoes, consistent training, and sound fueling habits will often provide more meaningful benefits than expensive upgrades purchased without a clear purpose.

The goal is not to avoid spending money. It is to spend it where it makes sense for your development.

Learn to Question Your Training Data

Training technology has made endurance sports more accessible, but it has also created opportunities for athletes to make poor decisions based on inaccurate information.

Heart rate monitors, power meters, GPS watches, and training platforms are useful tools. However, the quality of your decisions depends on the quality of the data and your ability to interpret it.

Incorrect training zones can leave you working too hard during easy sessions or failing to apply enough intensity when it matters. An inappropriate threshold estimate can distort your training structure. A plan built on inaccurate baseline data can send you in the wrong direction from the beginning.

Your zones should be established using appropriate testing and validated against your actual performance. They should also be reviewed as your fitness changes.

Be cautious of anyone who assigns training zones using nothing more than your age, a generic formula, or an arbitrary percentage without considering your individual physiology and performance.

Technology can tell you what happened during a workout. Experience and sound analysis help explain what it means and what you should do next.

Be Wary of Promises That Sound Too Good to Be True

Athletes want results. They want to get faster, improve their power, run stronger, and achieve goals that once seemed out of reach. That motivation can make promises of rapid improvement particularly appealing.

Be cautious of coaches, programs, and products that guarantee dramatic results, claim to have a secret method, or suggest that one approach works for everyone.

Athletic development depends on numerous variables, including genetics, training history, consistency, recovery, nutrition, and your ability to tolerate progressive workloads.

A good coach should establish realistic expectations, explain the process, and measure progress over time. They should not need exaggerated claims to convince you that their approach works.

Results matter, but so does the process used to achieve them.

Recovery Is Part of Training, Not a Sign of Weakness

One of the easiest mistakes an athlete can make is believing that more training always produces better results.

When you are motivated, it is tempting to believe that every missed workout is a setback and every hard session represents progress. Some training cultures reinforce this mindset by glorifying exhaustion and treating rest as a lack of commitment.

Fitness develops through the combination of training stress and recovery. If the workload consistently exceeds your ability to recover, performance can stagnate or decline, and injury risk can increase.

Your coach should understand how to balance intensity, volume, and recovery according to your individual needs. Training should challenge you, but it should also have a purpose.

A workout is not automatically productive because it was difficult. The important question is whether it contributed to the adaptation you were trying to achieve.

Understand What You Are Paying For

The endurance industry offers everything from downloadable plans to comprehensive coaching, bike fitting, performance testing, and nutrition guidance.

There is nothing wrong with different service levels or price points. The important thing is understanding what is included and whether it matches your needs.

Before committing to a service, ask what you will receive, how often your training will be reviewed, whether adjustments are included, how communication works, and what happens when you encounter a problem.

Be cautious when a service is marketed as comprehensive but leaves you paying extra for basic support you assumed was included. Also be wary of high pressure sales tactics that encourage you to commit before you have had time to understand the offering.

You deserve to know what you are buying and why it is appropriate for your goals.

Your Development Should Come Before Someone Else’s Sales Target

Your goals and someone else’s business interests are not always the same.

A coach may want to sell you more services. A retailer may want to sell you more equipment. A training platform may encourage you to purchase additional features. Those things are not inherently wrong, but they should not be confused with what you actually need to improve.

The right professional will explain the value of a recommendation, recognize when you do not need something, and prioritize your long term development over a short term sale.

That requires you to ask questions, do your research, and become an informed participant in your own athletic journey.

You do not need to become an expert in every aspect of endurance sports. That is one of the reasons experienced coaches and other qualified professionals exist. But you should understand enough to recognize the difference between informed guidance and unsupported claims.

Become an Educated Athlete

Being new to endurance sports does not mean you should accept every recommendation without question. It means you have an opportunity to learn the fundamentals, make better decisions, and build a foundation for long term progress.

Ask questions. Understand your training. Learn how to interpret your data. Invest in services that address real needs. Find professionals who can explain their reasoning and demonstrate that they are invested in your development.

Most importantly, remember that you should never have to remain uninformed to be a good athlete.

My own experiences taught me that the wrong approach can cost you months of progress, money, motivation, and confidence. They also taught me that the answer is not to distrust everyone, but to become better at asking questions and evaluating the guidance you receive.

The best coaches do more than prescribe workouts. They help athletes understand why they train the way they do, recognize what is and isn’t working, and become active participants in their own development.

You don’t need to know everything. You do need to know enough to ask the right questions, recognize when something doesn’t add up, and seek guidance from people who can explain the reasoning behind their decisions.

Train with purpose. Stay curious. Invest wisely. And remember that the goal is not simply to follow a plan or cross a finish line. It is to become a stronger, faster, more knowledgeable athlete who understands the process and can trust the people helping guide it.