How to know when to fire your triathlon coach

I guess one could just make a thread here on BT if they didn't want to do it in person.

I have never had a tri coach, but I worked with a swim coach for the past four years.  After a particularly crappy class one day I asked him what was up.  I received a barrage of how crappy I was, and that I had not made any progress in the past 2 years swimming.  We exchanged a few more emails over the following week.  I opted to leave his Master's class.  BEST. MOVE. EVER. 

I had a video session with my tri club qnd got some good feedback on areas to work on then did a series of private lessons.  In 3 lessons (1 hour each) my stroke was tweaked in about 10 ways.  Nothing major....head position, angle of arm entry , less glide, more kick.......for the first time ever I finally feel the water push against my forearm on the pull.  My lats are screaming at me and I haven't even done a set over 1600 yards total.

The former coach and I have had a couple conversations since I left the class, we are civil and polite to each other.  I may return to his class eventually.  I think his explanations weren't clicking to me and I needed the other person's input to straighten out the issues in my stroke.  The first guy has commented positively on the change he has noticed in my swim since I left the class.

That said, you know....you feel like you aren't progressing or the explanations given aren't connecting.  Kind of like how you know when it's time to get a new job....when the things you hate about your job outweigh the perks of it.....The communication breaks down.....or it gets ugly.

I've had two tri coach I've left one after 4 years and another after a year.

It is very difficult to leave as I feel that working with a coach you need to trust them completely and follow what they set up for you to do training wise as doubt has big negative implications in the quality of the relationship in my opinion. So after months or years of trusting them to even think about leaving opened up a lot of strange feelings.

You and your coach have to have same visions, same ideas on what has worked and what hasn't worked.  You need to trust that the training they have you do will reach your goals and prepare you to race your best for your races.

The same things you look for in a coach when you search for one you can evaluate when you are working with them. The training, communication, results are all things to consider how things are going. Being able to talk with your coach about what's working and not and how the communication goes are things to consider when evaluating continuing a coaching relationship. Is the coaching helping you reach your goals and seem to be working in a manner that works well for you?

First coach I left I like very much and it was very hard for me to leave as I learned a lot from him. We still keep in touch now 2.5 years later.

Second coach I felt I wasn't important to him and I didn't agree with some of the training he had me do looking back but at the time I trusted him. It was difficult but we did not have the same level of relationship. Proof I wasn't important, I sent him saying I was leaving and he never responded.

1.  When your needs from coaching aren't being met. 

2.  When your needs from coaching aren't being met.


Coaching is a two way street...both parties should be working on the relationship.  As an athlete, you should lay out your expectations to the coach.  You should express what your needs are from the relationship.  The coach may or may not be willing or able to meet those needs.  If those needs are significant and aren't being met, then it may be time to end the relationship.  The two of you aren't compatible. 

If you aren't getting what you want from coaching then it is incumbent upon you to have that talk with the coach.  This is where I think most athletes fail.  They see the coach in a semi-authority position.  Trust me, the coach doesn't really feel that way nor do they want to you to feel that way.  If they do, then that is reason enough to fire them. 

Very good way to sum it up and gets to the root of why I left both my previous coaches.