Personal Trainer or Self Train?

[dain2772]

I am about to embark on my preparation for the DW 100 and I am stuck with the dilemma of whether to get a professional opinion, or to get a good book or two and create my own program?

I know a PT at my Gym who is very good, but unsure about whether his advice would be best for the specificity of training for a 100km mtb event. I also have access to some other PTs through a friend, so could get some good advice.

Although, given the costs, I feel that I could get 2-3 books and create my own program, which would work out cheaper.

My aim is 90% for the event, 10% to drop about 4 kg....

any thoughts?

[Shrekmeister]

very broad topic..

i reckon depends on your knowledge and experience , also your motivation...

knowing how much is enough with out too little or too much...

being able to get out there at 5am either on your own or in a group ?

how not to get injured...

you may have a local club with groups you can train with instead of the trainer option, and get some ideas/guidance from knowledgable people within the group...

[climbo]

unless your PT at the gym is a cyclist or has experience with endurance athletes, I'd say they won't be able to help you. How much riding experience do you have? Anyone can train themselves to do 100km, it's just a matter of time and commitment.

[DaGonz]

I am about to embark on my preparation for the DW 100 and I am stuck with the dilemma of whether to get a professional opinion, or to get a good book or two and create my own program?
...
any thoughts?

* Are you able to set goals properly?

* Are you able to objectively analyse your own performance and weekneses?

* Do you know what you need to be doing to achieve your goals?

* Are you able to motivate yourself to do the work required to achieve your goals?

If you didn't answer yes to any one of those questions and you feel you can justify the cost then it's worth speaking to *someone*. There is a lot of doco out there on training, not alot of it encompases long distance stuff... try www.ultracycling.com albeit it mostly covers stuff from imperial centuries and upwards. Joe Friels book is also pretty good but is alot of information overload ( I tend to reference back to specific sections every now and then...)

For me personally, I feel I can answer "yes" or "mostly" to the above, and generally prefer speaking to someone more as a mentor than anything. I have both actively and passively seeked advice from professional and not so proffesional types as I've realised I needed more and wasn't sure where to go.

Find a Mentor: I would have to say, the most value I think has come from friends who have achieved many of what I want to achieve, carry many leassons learnt and seems open to sharing them. This has been true now for two different sports over the years. It's a two way street though and people will be more open to sharing experiences with you, if you are with them...

On that front though:

* listen to any advice that is given, there may just be some value in it although may not be immediately visible

* take most advice with a grain of salt, even professional. Unless it's someone you've been working with for years, you may or may not agree with what has been said, and it may or may not work out for you.

* Don't forget point no 1. above :)

Anyway, just my thoughts.

Cheers
Craig

[dain2772]

* Are you able to set goals properly?

* Are you able to objectively analyse your own performance and weekneses?

* Do you know what you need to be doing to achieve your goals?

* Are you able to motivate yourself to do the work required to achieve your goals?




I can set the goals, can mostly analyse performance and weaknesses, I know a reasonable amount of what I need to do in terms of increasing my load, doing hill stuff etc. and the motivation is probably the hardest part, particularly at 5:00am, although I am working on it.

I know that I can go through information and take it in and generally work with it, which is why I would be reasonably comfortable with doing stuff myself. I guess I am also skeptical as to whether a trainer will be able to give me really good advice (ie better than book stuff) without having to spend hundreds of dollars - which I would rather spend on bike bits!

Anyone know of a good mtb nutrition book/website/resource?

[Dreggsy]

Try to find someone who you ride with that has the same goal!
At least training wont get boring
I know I get bored easily when on a lonesome training ride.
Especially when you have planned a 4hr ride or 4 laps of your favourite circuit
Then go home after an hour or a lap.

Hills............ride plenty of hills
at high reps, also ride the same hill in a hard gear but not to hard.

[ScottD]

http://forums.multisportal.com//index.php?showforum=6
read over a few of these just relate it back to your topic. Get someone who is slightly stronger than you to train with for the event thatway your always pushing yourself.
There is enough stuff on the net to train yourself.
Have 3 key sessions per week of big gear hill reps, intervals(preferably on a trainer) and a long ride and treat anything else on top of that a bonus.

[DaGonz]

I am also skeptical as to whether a trainer will be able to give me really good advice (ie better than book stuff) without having to spend hundreds of dollars - which I would rather spend on bike bits!


Good advice is hard to get, especially seeing as most PT's will have next to no experience preparing someone for an event that's going to last 5 or more hours. Accreditations could help, that is finding an NCAS accredited cycling coach...

A good coach I think could be quite beneficial and I honestly believe should only be needed in small doses over time. They might be however quite costly to 'set up' so you warm into each other. What you want to avoid is getting someone to give you a cookie cutter program and charging $100 or whatever. I don't think that's cost effective and you're probably better off getting a book, and pulling a program from there...

Anyone know of a good mtb nutrition book/website/resource?

as mentioned previously:
http://www.ultracycling.com/nutrition/nutrition.html

while not cycling specific:
http://www.gatorade.com.au/coachesedge/resource/nutrition.asp

there's also some resources on the AIS website I'd have to dig up urls too...

are good starts I think.

*shrug*

Cheers
Gonz - 401!