Questions to ask potential coach

The questions you ask should be directly related to what you want out of them.  Are you looking to finish a triathlon of a specific distance, are you looking to qualify for Kona, are you looking to qualify for AG worlds, turn pro, etc. 

Once you establish what you are after, your answers to their questions are as important at their answers to your questions.  Can you be brutally honest with your current level of fitness, your past performances, your talent level, time constraints, and other commitments?

A good/productive melding of coach and athlete is not a one sided affair.

Shane's advice is right on.

Some/many coaches give canned plans to all their sprint or IM athletes which I find going against the idea of hiring a coach.

Talking with athletes will help you get a feel with what the experience is working with a prospective coach. How is their response time to questions via email, calls, texts, ect?

Something I found only one of the coaches I used did, was adjust my training based on how I did the previous week within the context of my other training in recent past.

I find many coaches are what I call plan writers. They write a plan for you but don't adapt it based on your progress because they don't check on how you did with the workouts you completed.  Plan writers often write a plan for a longer time like month at a time.

4) How will I get my workouts (method? when?)? 

5) How many changes to my training plan will you make per week/month and will I get charged? 

6) What is your methodology with regards to writing an annual plan, build/recovery weeks, individual workouts? 

7) How do you communicate with your clients and how often? 

Good info!

Thanks for the input everyone.  Some of these I wouldn't have thought of on my own. 

Anyone got anything else?

I ran into this today from DC Rainmaker, although it is from a while ago. Pretty similar to what was said here.

http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2009/02/thoughts-on-triathlon-coaching.html

In addition to the above:

Ask whether they coach full or part time.  Not because a full time coach is better than a part time coach, but a full time coach with 20+ athletes likely isn't over extended, but a part time coach with a dozen may be, so it provides some additional perspective to some of the answers to Shane's questions.

Do they put everything in writing as part of their coaching agreement?  For example, my agreement specifically says I will maintain my two primary certifications as a coach and personal trainer at all times, which includes continuing education requirements.

How long is their agreement for?  Is it month-to-month from the start, or is there a requirement for a minimum term?

What happens if you're not satisfied and want to stop working with the coach?

I posted this in another thread about whether coaches can help prevent injuries, but wanted to share it here too, because I don't see where it was mentioned...

I think it can be confusing for people, because they may think that a coach is going to have all the answers.  Instead, there is a fairly specific scope of practice for coaches, personal trainers, strength and conditioning coaches, nutritionists, registered dietitians, physical therapists, physicians, swimming technique coaches, bike fitters, etc.  In some cases you may find someone who has qualifications in more than one area, such as Suzanne being both a coach and physician or myself as a coach and personal trainer, but even in those cases, it's necessary to understand what service that person is providing.  For example, even though Suzanne is a physician, when you hire her as a coach, you're a coached client, not a patient, so she cannot diagnose and treat medical issues under a coaching agreement.  You would need to go into her ER for that.  

The best coaches tend to have a team of people that includes specialists like I listed above that they refer their athletes to as needed.  This is OT, but it should probably be added to the list of questions asked of a potential coach - Do they have a team of outside experts they can tap into?