virtual coach

[Deleted User]

Peeps,

Have you tried training with a virtual coach? I have read many success stories on the web. What is your opinion/experience?

Jj

I have a couple here, on these very forums. Not sure that they know quite how much they influence me.

)

I just take heed of what they say, absorb their encouragement, kowtow to their own achievements and keep at it.

I've lost a stone and a half, I'm injury free (touching wood frantically) and I run further than ever on all sorts of routes.

[Deleted User]

Thank you Jj!

I am thinking about Greg Mc Millan coaching services. Does anyone have any experiences of his or anybody else's work?

Thank you!

[Deleted User]

Ooops, forgot the website>

www.mcmillanrunning.com

Stickless

What was the arrangement that Shattered Shins had? Not sure that was exactly what she had been hoping for.

I haven't tried it, so I shouldn't speak up, but I've always been wary of other folk making decisions on my behalf, even when they can see my face and hear my tone of voice. I can certainly imagine that I might be able to train harder if someone who wasn't aching called the shots, but a part of the charm of running for me is training the mind, reading the aches, making the decisions. It's up to me to push myself, or accept my own excuses.

Same as in sailing. It is the helm's decision whether to sail/retire/leave the boat on the bank. Even when the helm is 8, the boat is an oppy, and the weather conditions are only a (terrifying) force 3+, it's the helm that makes the decision. Making decisions like that is part of sailing, and part of the satisfaction sailing confers on the sailor.

Clearly not all coaching is bad and I am not agin it, but it seems to me that over the web there are enormous possibilities for a coach's failure to assess the actual situation, and recommend unhelpful or downright destructive training sessions.

Two functions of a coach, to inform and encourage, certainly are available, and on this forum. I too have benefited enormously from both.

If you decide to go for it, remember that whatever happens, you are in charge.

Best of luck!

Hilly

Hi Spud, I'd be interested to hear a success story and how it works. Are you thinking of going down that road?

[Deleted User]

I don't know Hilly. The running club nearby does not have a coach. I am just testing the water.

I like to plan my own training but I always overdo it and get very tired. I would like to know what Peeps think.

SS - The Last Unicorn

I would never - ever - ever do it again. What Stickless says is 100% right

Virtual coaches can only go by 'the norm' ie what their experiences of other runners make them think you can do - regardless of your own scope for improvement / ability.

They can not train you as an individual - they don't know how hard you're working / struggling - and well - having gone thro hell last winter I ended up grossly overtrained and still can't train as regularly / hard as I used to before Ron Grover - which mean's I'm now more than 10% slower than I was exactly a year ago.

Don't go there - please - cos if you always overtrain then there's no gaurantee you won't with a 'virtual coach' but they seem to hate admitting that they've overtrained you.

[Deleted User]

thank you for the good advice, Peeps.

Stickless

Although, SS, I reckon I'm about 10% slower than I was last year, and considering last year, that's pretty poor.

So being in charge of your own training doesn't necessarily make you go faster.

But I've enjoyed the whole year, and not lost any time to biomechanical faults, lurgy excepted.

[Deleted User]

Spud - if it's for a particular event, then the RW schedules seem as good as any. If it's for general running advice, you could always try asking the most experienced runners at your club - even if they're not qualified coaches, they can still give you advice. And they can see you run before giving it... Or train as a coach yourself!

If it's for general fitness & you're trying to get max results with min injury, have you considered a personal trainer? I see mine twice a week - when I first went I'd just stopped rowing and wanted the motivation to keep fit without having any specific goals. However, since deciding to run as an end in itself, instead of as part of a general fitness programme, my PT has been extremely supportive, running with me, advising on nutrition and basically telling me I can do it when I think I can't. And he knows when I'm genuinely tired and when I'm being lazy, and has created a new training programme for me round running.

Yes, it costs - but value for money, it's a hell of a lot cheaper than the gym I joined for two years and went three times...

ceal

I would be very wary of having a virutal coach. I do not see how that would stop you overdoing it. That is something in your nature, mine too, if I'm honest! That is something that you have to work out for yourself. If you go for a personal trainer, a brilliant idea in principal, I think they would not be of any use to you unless they were running competitively themselves. You seem to be doing very well on your own, maybe a little impatient! Only you and you alone can do the training. Spud have confidence in yourself. Learn to recognise when you are tired, a virtual coach does not know that, only you. I do not think I have said very much more than everybody else has said.

But I am very willing to hear of a success story, and to reassess my ideas.

ceal

Spud, another thought re the overtraining issue. Perhaps a route you could take is to buy a Heart Rate Monitor and get a professional test done to use it, this would ensure that you do not overdo your training if you follow the guide lines as a result of the test. I do not think that a virtual coach would improve on your training schedule much at all.

Chaos

Could be worth picking up a book or two - I'd particularly recommend a combination of Bob Glovers Runners Handbook AND Tim Noakes's lore of running. they won't let you overtrain!

tim noakes in particular has long sections on how to recognise overtraining, how to avoid injury and so on. bob glovers book is great for inspiration and a better first read though technically tim noakes's research is far better and more recent so you can develop a good training plan from his work.
href="">lore of running. they won't let you overtrain!

tim noakes in particular has long sections on how to recognise overtraining, how to avoid injury and so on. bob glovers book is great for inspiration and a better first read though technically tim noakes's research is far better and more recent so you can develop a good training plan from his work.
>

Chaos

Oops, let's fill in the rest.

Lore of Running. They won't let you overtrain!

Tim Noakes in particular has long sections on how to recognise overtraining, how to avoid injury and so on. Bob Glovers book is great for inspiration and a better first read though technically Tim Noakes's research is far better and more recent so you can develop a good training plan from his work.

[Deleted User]

Thank you Chaos!