by Alex Thompson

There are many reasons why people pick a coach: increased consistency through accountability, increased motivation from knowing you're doing the "right" thing, bragging rights...

For me it was a mixture of learning and excitement. It's true I wanted to get faster but I feel that results were not a great factor in deciding which coach was right for me.

While on the old Endurance Corner forum, I found out about AC. Whenever I had a question about something or other it always happened to fall in Alan's domain. I started getting really into the science of it, and read all of Alan's blogs, studied them, and set myself mini tests trying to get as much in my head as possible. I went out of my way to understand things, rather than assuming things at face value, I looked between the facts to see areas of grey, areas which weren't explained, and I asked questions. To his credit AC always answered and I learned a hell of a lot.

Due to a change in personal circumstances, I had a bit more disposable income, and right when that happened, AC announced he had a coaching spot free. I got excited; I could only dream of the meticulous training plan this guy would write me. I've always been fascinated by how the top coaches of the world get people so fast. I had an 11-hour ironman to my name but I couldn't get my head around how people could finish in 8 hours. As I had nothing else in my life, no commitments or real career, I thought I'd give it a go. If what this guy says is true all I have to do is do what he says for long enough and I'll find out what it is to be a fast ironman -- maybe not 8 hours fast but as fast as I could get. I was excited to find out.

Working with Alan I've already learned that there's a whole lot more than just training. As you would expect I found out all about the whole WKO+ . This approach has changed the way I think. My brain is now wired differently, every few months I seemed to be getting to the next level of understanding. Things that I used to log and care about I know realized were arbitrary -- miles and time were byproducts, TSS and CTL only tell part of the story -- TSB is where it is at. In other words, getting tired is what's important.

Alan is straightforward and inspires complete confidence in his approach. Most of us begin our training journeys doing whatever makes us tired. AC has the ability to quantify that fatigue and use it to plan the things that will get you tired while making you faster.

The repetitive nature of the AC program makes you look inwards for enjoyment. I have been running 10x200m pretty much every week for two years. That approach changes you -- you look for enjoyment in the process of improving. Since you're doing the same session every week, you'll rarely surprise yourself with good times. Instead, you focus on form and are much more aware of your body. You also begin to realize that it's not just fancy math which gets you quicker, it's work!

My job as an athlete is to find -- both logistically and emotionally -- to do what Alan recommends. I'm excited to see what happens in my races this year, and already looking forward to another season with Alan and the EC team.