Tri Coaching Certification

Well I am at this moment sitting at JFK Airport, waiting for about another hour to get on a flight to Colorado where this weekend I will be attending the USAT Triathlon Coaching Level I Clinic. Pretty excited about it, it looks to offer much excellent information. Here is the outline from the agenda they sent:

Friday, March 27

8:30- 9:00am Introduction to USAT Coaching Certification Program 9:15-10:45am Triathlon Nutritional Strategies

11:00-12:30pm Exercise Physiology
12:30-1:45pm Lunch

1:45-3:15pm Periodization and Planning

3:30-5:00pm Triathlon Specific Strength Training

I am interested about what they will say about periodization. I assume they will teach the standard Prep/Base/Build/Race yada yada yada. Also Nutritional strategies are of interest.


Saturday, March 28

8:00-9:30am Communication, Ethics and Risk Management ( ie Dont get sued!!)

9:45- 11:15am Sports Psychology & Mental Skills

11:15-12:45pm Lunch ( What the!! 11:15?! Brunch?)

12:45– 2:15pm Periodization and Planning-Practical Application

2:30 – 4:00pm Running Skills and Economy Training


4:15-5:30pm Triathlon Specific Training and Key Workouts

Sunday, March 29

8:00-9:30am Cycling Skills

9:45-11:15pm Swimming Skills and Economy Training

11:30-12:00pm Certification Process/Exam Distribution (I believe its a take home exam)



Overall Pretty excited about this. I feel this will provide some excellent info that I can apply the athletes I am coaching both for OpIron Multisport, and Race with Purpose ( We have an great program we are planning for 2010)

Now to the real negative, I am leaving almost springlike weather in NY to fly into a Colorado Snow storm WTF!!

So Why do I think this is necessary? Well to be honest I put myself in a potential clients position and you have to wonder what qualifications does someone have to coach? Meaning is it experience? Knowledge? What? Whats to stop a quack that happens to know how to sell from starting a coaching service online with little experience? Nothing really. Well hopefully verifiable certification will help. It tells athletes that I am serious enough about coaching that I have taken the steps necessary to get the official credentials. Its no different than when you hire someone for a job. Will an accountant be a better accountant because they have a CPA? Maybe not, but it tells me that the person cared enough to at least learn a minimum of base knowledge on the subject. He/She had to take a fairly hard exam for it and display some knowledge on the subject.

Well I think this is the closest officially recognized certification(If not the only) for Triathlon Coaching that we have in the US. As such I figure it shows a level of commitment on my part. There is also the additional knowledge gained ( although not expecting much more on the side of planning since I have read just about every book on the subject and have actually used this info for a couple of years.)

Overall I am psyched. Should be a good time.

Ok thats it for now, will keep you guys updated