I'm opening up a thread to see what the general consensus is on hiring a coach.
This one in particular charges money to provide workout schedules and phone advice. I am at a point in my running where I think I might benefit - taking my marathon PR from 3:45 in 2002 to 2:48 in 2003 to 2:42 in 2004 to 2:37 in 2005. I am hoping to hit low 2:30 this year and want to do sub 2:30 next year.
All my progress has been myself since I am self coached. A lot of my progress can be attributed to losing 50 pounds and having a huge can of gas thrown on a smouldering fire from within. Why get one now? Because I am worried that my lack of substantive speed workouts will hinder further progress. My workouts usually entail hard/easy changeups, long runs > 20 miles, and tempo workouts during the week. Weekly mileage of around 70-90 miles and racing 1/month. I live in CT, so my winter speed workouts are doing lame treadmill intervals at 11.5 mph. My 'schedule' is usually determined when I wake up that day with the exception of a Wednesday speed workout and a weekend long run or race.
I can read, so I have a bunch of books on what speed workouts should be, but I just don't know if being spoon-fed and coached by an expert will help as I get closer to the 3rd rail of marathoning (ie. O2 debt). Sub 2:30 pace to me is a hair's width away from that rail.
If anyone has used a long distance coach before, I'd welcome feedback.
Thanks.
PS. The guy I am looking at has the credentials for sure.