Your Endurance Lifestyle. Redesigned.

Ed. Note: This is a cross post from the Endurance Nation blog (www.endurancenation.us/blog).

Please note the wording there…I didn’t say “Putting Your Coach” to the test. I am talking here about methodology; about philosophy…not about your individual situation. Whether you have a 1:1 coach or you are self coached, you are following a particular approach. But how robust is the methodology you are using? What actually happens to all the pretty formulas and expert strategies when they encounter the real-world we live in?

The Athlete-Focused Dynamic
As of this blog post, Endurance Nation is helping almost 450 athletes manage their triathlon training and racing. Since 2001 more than 3,000 athletes have used our methodology to achieve their triathlon racing goals. By collecting and analyzing this training data and race feedback, we have been able to revise our plans each and every year…making them incrementally more effective, easier to use, and simply…better as time goes on.

If you just run the numbers, we have leveraged our experience coaching so many athletes that we have been able to adapt our plans and training protocols to effectively address the needs of 95% of age group triathletes. Another way to look at the numbers — we have 450 members inside EN that we’ll coach for 2009. If Joe Tricoach is working with 15 folks as a part-time gig, it will take him 30 years to gather the data and feedback that EN has access to right now.

The Athlete-Driven Dynamic
But data is, at the end of the day, just another pile of numbers. What really makes Endurance Nation exciting and so dynamic is the role that member athletes play in the development of the team as a whole: “Together we are all smarter than any single one of us could ever be.”

It is this spirit that drives our online forums, a place with almost 24/7 athlete support. Most training/racing questions are answered within the hour (!), with the more challenging topics moving off to longer discussions. Some of our members – with professional qualifications – have even volunteered to moderate nutrition and injury-management forums.

And then there are the individual cases of athletes who really do give us a run for the money. We currently have three member-driven projects in the works, with the most exciting being around training with power on the bike. A few members analyzed our plans and suggested modifications. Intrigued, we pooled a group of 10 athletes to participate and contribute data….if the results look good, our members will see some big changes come 5/1/2009 when we close the doors for the racing season.

The Endurance Nation Difference
I just got back from a day-long triathlon expo in Boston. A great event for the sport and full of coaches at their respective booths doing the “expert” thing in nice shirts with signs and charts and business cards. It really made me realize how the 1:1 or elite coaching model depends a great deal on the coach being perceived as the expert.

But they read the same books you read. They visit the same websites you do. The only difference between you and Coach Jane is that she attended a weekend workshop by USAT and has been coaching people for some time. At the end of the day, the coach is merely a conduit for a large amount of publicly-available information.

The expert model, however, holds the coach at the center. Information, knowledge, learning, etc., it all must happen through one road. Imagine if the MassPike had a toll plaza with One Single Booth…that’s effectively what 1:1 coaching is. Powerful for communication, but relatively ineffective for learning, testing methodology, seeing large-scale results, etc.

As an extreme example, in 2008 we updated our training plans three separate times last year based on athlete feedback and input. For over 300 athletes. Each time. That’s 900 touch points. And I am not talking about moving a swim from Wednesday to Friday; I mean serious fundamental changes. Currently I think our plans are the best triathlon plans available anywhere.

Inside EN, the community drives the process…the coaches are the facilitators. We couldn’t possibly support, manage, inspire, or track 450 athletes….but the team can. There’s nothing like logging on to your own website to find out that 10+ athletes are coming to Boston for the marathon and they are organizing a Saturday night dinner…just another small example of how we do things differently inside EN.

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If you are intrigued by EN, please consider starting a 30-Day Free Trial. We’ll coach you like a member and you’ll get firsthand access to all of our resources so you can see the EN difference for yourself! If you don’t choose EN, be sure to say hi at any one of the US Ironman races this year…we’ll be at every one!

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