tri coaches for a poor triathlete

hunter9

Any affordable coaches out there ?? Just asking what i should expect to pay. I feel i can do well with a coach but find them very expensive. I started tri last year and did pretty well in my first year i think!! 8 top 10's in 10 races . Now it was mainly sprint distance and 1 hotw race [ top 40 finish].
I feel i have more to give but need to find a coach that won't break the bank tbh i just can't afford much. I do get a coached swim lesson every second week with pb3 peter kern, but thats about it.
Ha some sponsorship would be great lol, but how to get some is the question ????

Ceepo

hunter9 wrote: »

Any affordable coaches out there ?? Just asking what i should expect to pay. I feel i can do well with a coach but find them very expensive. I started tri last year and did pretty well in my first year i think!! 8 top 10's in 10 races . Now it was mainly sprint distance and 1 hotw race [ top 40 finish].
I feel i have more to give but need to find a coach that won't break the bank tbh i just can't afford much. I do get a coached swim lesson every second week with pb3 peter kern, but thats about it.
Ha some sponsorship would be great lol, but how to get some is the question ????

As a suggestion why don't to have a chat with a coach and explain your circumstances. Some of the coach's might be willing to some kind of program for you based on what you can afford to pay.

peter kern

how would anybody want to coach you if you take 5 min rest at each turnaround in the pool ...and are not focused.

its simple there is 2 ways you make yourself a progam and follow it.
(lets face it its not that hard)

or you get a real coach anythng in between wont do you good as it is not better than writting your own program and dosnt solve your issues.
you have the talent but are far to distracted.
a cut and past programe is just a waste for you ( and thats what you get a the prices you are looking for)

Ceepo

^^^^^^^^

Well there's one less to ask lol

Kurt.Godel

peter kern wrote: »

how would anybody want to coach you if you take 5 min rest at each turnaround in the pool ...and are not focused.

Priceless!

peter kern

Kurt.Godel wrote: »

Priceless!

still no doubt that he will win some small races this year .

but what iam trying to say is you have to offer commitment not only in racing, if you want to be sponsored and offer something.resting in the slowest lane donst inspire others much ....

BTH

Someone bookmark this for post of the year!!

He came in looking for sponsorship and instead got ripped apart. Hilarious!!!!!!!

hunter9

peter kern wrote: »

how would anybody want to coach you if you take 5 min rest at each turnaround in the pool ...and are not focused.

Ha i'll take that as a joke for your sake deter ;-). As with commitment and focus ,tell me someone who gets up at 4am and drives 100km to be in a pool at 6am for a swim session and lets face it the coach doesn't always turn up !!!.
Yip i have bad habits like taking a second break at the turns, but i only started swimming last year so habits can be rectified. It's not my place to move lanes as it's daunting swimming with people let alone accomplished tri swimmers.

'he'll win some small races" You're worse than o'connor with the 'small races don't count' ****e. I'm happy to take part at smaller races to build experience and learn the sport. Also to support local clubs like Wicklow etc.

hunter9

peter kern wrote: »

or you get a real coach anythng in between wont do you good as it is not better than writting your own program and dosnt solve your issues.
you have the talent but are far to distracted.
a cut and past programe is just a waste for you ( and thats what you get a the prices you are looking for)

Now thats a much nicer post peter

peter kern

BTH wrote: »

Someone bookmark this for post of the year!!

He came in looking for sponsorship and instead got ripped apart. Hilarious!!!!!!!

its not ripping apart.

maybe not in the nicest way i told him that he has enough talent to become good on his own.
or consider looking for real coaching. but cut and paste coaching wont do him really good.
i gave him -what i think valuable coaching tips on the swiming front and coaching , and its his choice to use it or not.



maybe his timing was funny as just 3 days ago i talked with a guy who showed me emails of sponsorship requests
I came 30th in a race and want a wetsuit and money so i can improve etc

i guess what most people have to think about is that russle white was struggeling for sponsorhip for quite a while , after having won dublin city tri ( one of the 3 most competetive races n the country) on a road bike ... and most people saw that he would become quite good )

hunter9

I know your pretty up front on the truth Peter. This post is to tap into the wealth of knowledge of on here to see if there is a more affordable way of coaching that i don't know about. I have pretty much all the tools to train right, i just lack direction in how to put it all together. I'm actually pretty good at following plans as i had a cycling coach when i road raced. I used power for training on the bike but lacked the knowledge to know the figures to use. It's the same now with tri. I just don't know how to train efficiently and to numbers. I've a power meter on my road and tt bike but would rather a tri coach than to try wing it or just a bike or swim coach on my own and not train efficiently. As you know i've had surgery and won't be back training for 2 weeks. I just thought a tri coach would be my best option!! The sponsorship is just a curiosity question as i wonder how do people get it i.e. i don't see anyway at the tri races trying to promote any brands etc. but get told that some people {not just the pros ] do get some things like runners etc.

joey100

The only sponsorship things I've really seen is when companies look for ambassadors. You get some money off the stuff (haven't seen any offer free stuff) and then are expected to cover your Facebook, twitter, Instagram and what ever else with all their stuff.

In a different sport about 10 years ago I was sponsored. It was worth it cos it was a high cost sport and I pretty much got the gear at cost but I was expected to have their newest gear and promote it. That as well as competing at set events with set goals and then attend demo days meant it was hard enough. That was what i was expected to do and used to make a bit selling on the older gear and cud replace it with the newer stuff and still have a bit left based on the discount I got.

I haven't seen much like that for tri and with social media the way it is now your basically meant to spend the time your not training on social media promoting brands for about 10-20% off their prices. The idea of sponsorship now seems to be based on the number of social media followers you have rather than results.

sconhome

Sponsorship has changed. Simply put you won't get it with the approach that most people take.

Speaking as someone who has both supported & sponsored athletes as well as sourced sponsorship for our team you need to be red hot at what you do or a superb ambassador for a brand.

The best thing for you to do is put together a CV of what you have achieved, what you think you will achieve sportingly and what you thing you can bring to a brand or company. Pick 10 - 20 different brands, your local sports shop, business people in your triathlon club and get networking!

Write a cover letter unique to each application, specific to each application with a CV specific to each application and ask to present. Tell them what you will do for them over the coming 6 months, ask if they are interested in supporting you and then deliver. Quite often you will have to negotiate and deliver before you get anything.

I used to get people asking for sponsorship for their first marathon and they would promise they would be a customer for life. They never had shopped with me before, had never blogged about or mentioned the shop before yet wanted something upfront?? Be the customer first and then ask.

TBH with all the clatter on social media, blogs, logs and even in here you really want to be something special to stand out from the crowd.

The best example of someone who has learned how to market themselves and deliver a return to a series of businesses is Kevin Thornton. Not everyone is a fan or get what he is doing, but he is a prime example of how you need to deliver. Check him out.

sconhome

Well worth reading some of these to get an idea of what business wants / needs and how to go about it.

Follow https://twitter.com/GetSponsorship and dig into the resources here: http://www.thesponsorshipconsultants.com/

Google 'athlete sponsorship' to find more, read as much as you can, see if you can fit the profile and work towards it as a goal.

zico10

sconhome wrote: »

Speaking as someone who has both supported & sponsored athletes as well as sourced sponsorship for our team you need to be red hot at what you do or a superb ambassador for a brand.

Do you mind sharing details of who you sponsored and what you feel you got out of it?

sconhome

zico10 wrote: »

Do you mind sharing details of who you sponsored and what you feel you got out of it?

Honestly would prefer not to say as (a) I'm not involved in the business since last year and (b) mostly underage athletes that get sponsorship as a way of encouraging them forwards than anything marketing / advertising related.

Events that have been sponsored are wide and diverse. Very hard to gauge a ROI on these as it is generally more visibility that anything with a direct return. Even long term relations with events are only working 6-8 months out of 12.

In relation to sponsorship it is usually support through gear, footwear, clothing and race entries where possible. Unless you are international and on the rise the vast majority of athletes will not see cash. If you are this good you likely would have an agent working for you at that level.

Ambassadors (we never really bothered with this route - AK did for a couple of seasons) usually discounted goods in return for being a spokesperson. Again very subjective and hard to measure as most people these days see through any form of shilling so IMO better to be open and upfront as a business and as an athlete.


EDIT; just a note on the sponsorship thing. i remember a few years ago there was issues with a youth who was a sponsored athlete & visible who had problems with a college scholarship in the US due to the perceived 'professional' aspect of being a sponsored athlete. I can't remember the details though I believe it resolved itself after a bit of a headache.

rooneyjm

I'm not sure if the coaching scene is saturated or not but what if a new coach looking for exposure knew you were going to pick up a few podiums (even the small races get a few photos on TI website) in triathlon and duathlon, they might be willing to do you a deal on your coaching costs?

mossym

sponsorship has less to do with results these days and a lot more to do with visibility. rock up to one of the equipment providers with 50 top ten finishes and they have to look you up? not a hope they will sponsor you. rock up with 10k+ followers on social media, , very visible and known but a mid pack finisher, and you've a much better hope.

results don't interest sponsors. visibilty does. if you want to get an inside line look up influence marketing. it's pretty much the basis for why company's sponsor people, you don't sponsor succesful people, you sponsor people who are thought leaders in the area and influence others to buy things. that's where the ROI is.

tunney

Sponsorship is as much to do with personality as results.
Who follows what a successful d1ckhead does? feck all
Who follows what a liked successful person? everyone

zico10

tunney wrote: »

Who follows what a successful d1ckhead does? feck all

Two words for you; Lance Armstrong

catweazle

tunney wrote: »

Sponsorship is as much to do with personality as results.
Who follows what a successful d1ckhead does? feck all
Who follows what a liked successful person? everyone

Dont agree with that at all

Pitch Conor McGregor versus Padraig Harrington and I have a fair idea of who will get more follows

tunney

catweazle wrote: »

Dont agree with that at all

Pitch Conor McGregor versus Padraig Harrington and I have a fair idea of who will get more follows

Is Harrington that much of a d1ckhead?

mloc123

tunney wrote: »

Is Harrington that much of a d1ckhead?

Hah, beat me to it

68 lost souls

tunney wrote: »

Sponsorship is as much to do with personality as results.
Who follows what a successful d1ckhead does? feck all
Who follows what a liked successful person? everyone

Well person A in you're analogy just became president of the USA so....

sconhome

68 lost souls wrote: »

Well person A in you're analogy just became president of the USA so....

But are you actually following them or letting them influence your decisions?

Please say no!

gerfmurphy

68 lost souls wrote:

Well person A in you're analogy just became president of the USA so....

Was thinking exactly the same

mossym

68 lost souls wrote: »

Well person A in you're analogy just became president of the USA so....

tends to happen when you put two person A's in a two horse race. just happens the bigger one won

peter kern

I suggest change your attitude in the pool and than ask coaches for discount ( next time in the pool have a look how hard colm works, you match that and then you ask me for a discount or i try to help you to find somebody)

also not very wise to say you are poor and have a power meter on road bike and tt bike... maybe you have to change priorities.

for me somebody with a car and 2 bikes with powermeter is not poor.

hunter9 wrote: »

I know your pretty up front on the truth Peter. This post is to tap into the wealth of knowledge of on here to see if there is a more affordable way of coaching that i don't know about. I have pretty much all the tools to train right, i just lack direction in how to put it all together. I'm actually pretty good at following plans as i had a cycling coach when i road raced. I used power for training on the bike but lacked the knowledge to know the figures to use. It's the same now with tri. I just don't know how to train efficiently and to numbers. I've a power meter on my road and tt bike but would rather a tri coach than to try wing it or just a bike or swim coach on my own and not train efficiently. As you know i've had surgery and won't be back training for 2 weeks. I just thought a tri coach would be my best option!! The sponsorship is just a curiosity question as i wonder how do people get it i.e. i don't see anyway at the tri races trying to promote any brands etc. but get told that some people {not just the pros ] do get some things like runners etc.

mloc123

peter kern wrote: »

I suggest change your attitude in the pool and than ask coaches for discount ( next time in the pool have a look how hard colm works, you match that and then you ask me for a discount or i try to help you to find somebody)

also not very wise to say you are poor and have a power meter on road bike and tt bike... maybe you have to change priorities.

for me somebody with a car and 2 bikes with powermeter is not poor.

Peter, you are a breath of fresh air in a dying forum

tunney

mloc123 wrote: »

Peter, you are a breath of fresh air in a dying forum

Its not dying, its just having a long break between turns.

peter kern

mossym wrote: »

sponsorship has less to do with results these days and a lot more to do with visibility. rock up to one of the equipment providers with 50 top ten finishes and they have to look you up? not a hope they will sponsor you. rock up with 10k+ followers on social media, , very visible and known but a mid pack finisher, and you've a much better hope.

results don't interest sponsors. visibilty does. if you want to get an inside line look up influence marketing. it's pretty much the basis for why company's sponsor people, you don't sponsor succesful people, you sponsor people who are thought leaders in the area and influence others to buy things. that's where the ROI is.

not disagreeing as most of it is very correct.
but there is still loads of result driven "sponsorship" ( its usally disounts that are cost price ) .
ie going to kona makes you attractive to sponsors. ( as the kona gear count is kind of important , hence forth many companaies that want to increase market share , give huge discounts to atheltes that have qualyfied for kona. ( rudy project ,powertap etc come to mind)

and if you quaify to kona you are certainly somewhat an opinion leader in your club etc )
ie if you have a marathon virgin with 10000 followers that is good but that would not really help you with more advacned athletes. so there still needs to be a mix.