A Decision has been Made....

As you may or may not know, my first coach and I broke up after Ironman Florida. I started shopping for a coach but then decided I was going to proceed without one, at least for awhile, at least until April (6 months out from IM Louisville). After all, my relationship with my coach was the steadiest relationship of my recent adult life and I needed time to grieve. Just kidding, I needed to save some pennies and figure out what I wanted in my next coach, if there was going to be a next coach. I digress....

The decision to proceed without coaching was purely financial. I expected some major income changes to come my way and knew that coaching wasn't going to be an optional expense I could afford.

Before this decision to proceed without a coach was reached, I spoke to a handful of different coaches. Some I reached out to, some reached out to me. Some were easier to talk to than others. Some seemed more interested in working with me than others. I was very put off by a friend's coach that I reached out to who, at one point, was talking to me, and then when I said I'd like to talk about coaching never returned my message. I felt like another coach I was chasing to see if it could work. Then there was Brant from Dream Big Triathlon Coaching. He is in Indiana and was very responsive to my questions and took the time to chat with me.

I let Brant know in December that I wasn't going to be going with a coach for now. Financially it wasn't a commitment I could comfortably make. He alerted me to a contest on his coaching page where he was giving away a free month of coaching and asked me if I would like him to enter me in it. SURE!

In January I got an email: You won a month. Want it?

I let him know I was headed to Dopey and he agreed we'd get started after I recovered. He kept tabs on my progress and we chatted some after. He encouraged me to do stuff that was fun. I spent the 2 weeks after Dopey spinning, yoga-ing, running with friends and masters swim.

Then it was time to get started.

Brant gave me some great workouts. Wrote them in a way I hadn't seen before (learned something new) and kept me moving. Even in 4 short weeks, I learned from him.

While working with him it became very apparent I do better working with a coach. I am starting to get into coaching myself, but even the best surgeons don't operate on themselves. Things that were supposed to happen in my personal/professional life didn't (yet) and I realized I would be able to continue on with coaching after all.

Now the decision: a virtual coach (long distance) or local. My first coach was local. That was the relationship I was used to. I'm thankful that Brant gave me the opportunity to experience a virtual coach.

I weighed out the pros and cons. The options were: stay virtual and continue on with Brant and Dream Big Triathlon Coaching or find someone local. There was an amazing thread in Ironwilled: Women who TRI about the pros and cons of each (like how I plugged that?). For me, the decision was to find a local coach: a coach I could get an in person skill session from if needed. Someone who knew the roads I would ride and could really guide my workouts to best prepare me for race day.

By the suggestion of my metallic haired sister from another mister I was going to speak to a coach she recommended. Knowing both of us, she thought we'd work well together. I was planning to seek him out, but hadn't had the time yet.

Then last week I walked in to my favorite ice cream store bike mechanic's shop to pick up my new-to-me bike rack and as fate would have it, he was there. He stopped what he was doing and we talked a bit. I was sold when he said: I read your blog. I've read your race reports. I understand what this sport means to you and that the process is just as important to you as race day.

Woot-woot! I'm completely ecstatic to announce I'm going to be training with Brent and DYNAMO MULTISPORT!!!

How else does one celebrate than with a posed photo op!

So now the question remains....Does he know what he's gotten himself in to????