Online Personal Coaching - Worth it?

You should be able to drop 3 minutes off a 3:03 marathon time just by training yourself. If you want want to do more (

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Runningprs.com

Tom is an excellent coach and has posted here many times.

It depends on the coach and how much money you have.

It sounds like you don't really have the money. For you, it will only be worth it if you believe in your coach, 100%. That is really hard to find, you will need air tight references from people you already know.

I started with my online coach when I was injured. My specific goal was for him to keep me from getting hurt again. I wanted someone to prevent me from doing anything stupid. So far it has worked very well because I would pay just about anything to keep from getting injured again.

Thanks for the insight.

It's not about the money. I'd pay it if I could find the right coach. More interested in whether and how much it would improve my running compared to going it alone.

A couple of hundred bucks a month to break three hours?

Just post here and get free training.

Ask for advice and pick your favorite workout each day.

I'll start:

Tomorrow run 10 miles.

Next

I could coach you. :)

Fair enough, Star. I too question whether I need to spend the money to shave off 4 minutes or so.

Ran 16 last weekend. Half this weekend. Marathon date is 10/21. I feel confident I can set my long run schedule and tempo and goal pace run schedule. Need more guidance on types, quantity and frequency of interval workouts and when to schedule. Typically run 6 days per week with 2 workouts and a long run. Ran an 18:38 5k in April. Ran 3:03 last fall on about 45 MPW. 38 years old, 2 kids, 55 hour week job. Plan on averaging about 55 MPW this cycle.

Describe how much experience you have with running.

My guess is a coach is most helpful in addressing things that don't happen very often in the average runner's life.

If you ran in HS and then picked it up again years later, much of what you learned in HS doesn't apply as you approach 40.

I started running recreationally when I was 30. No HS, track or other competitive background. Did my first marathon in 2006 at 3:57 on 3 days, 25 miles a week. Ran a few more marathons in 2008 and 2009, peaking at 3:14. Injured for most of 2010 and started back up in 2011, ran 3:18 fall 2011 on 4 days, 40MPW running, 3:09 fall 2012 on similar mileage, 3:03 fall 2013 on 5 days, 45MPW running. Have used McMillan training programs since 2012 and have had good luck (by my standards) with them. As mentioned above, trying 6 days per week avg 55MPW with 2 workouts plus long run per week. Tend to struggle more with speed and hill work than tempo and long runs.

Any advice would be appreciated . . . thanks

You don't need a coach to shave off 4 min with that history. Even if you just repeat what you did last year you have better than a 50% chance. The problem is with the right coach you could run 2:4X on 70 mpw. Maybe not this year but most likely the year after.

I'd like to believe I could do that one day, but how do I find the right coach?

Star wrote:

Just post here and get free training.

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Training like "run 170mpw or your a lib-tard".

Yeah, I know, I left that out because it isn't easy. Some people can do it like they are picking a contractor.

Years back I sent a guy a first months check and he was so disorganized he not only did nothing for me but he didn't even cash the check despite several preliminary emails.

I picked mine because I had known him for years on here but I haven't been coached long enough to feel comfortable pushing you in any direction.