An online triathlon coach has to fit swimming, the bike and the run into the week you actually have, not into an ideal one. This checklist is for someone about to hire a person. If you are preparing for trail and not for three sports, the matching list is in how to choose an online trail running coach.
Short answer: choose someone who has already coached athletes at your distance, who asks about your week, your injuries and your access to a pool and to open water before writing anything, who works on swim technique, bricks and transitions, who looks at the load of all three sports together, and who tells you how the watch data arrives and how often you will talk. If they send a closed plan without asking you anything, keep looking.
Checklist: what to ask before you hire
Ask these questions on the first call. A useful answer is specific: your distance, your days and your race, not a speech about triathlon in general. How a whole season is laid out is in the guide to planning a triathlon season; we do not repeat it here.
- Have they coached athletes in the swim, on the bike and in the run, and at your distance? Sprint, Olympic, half and full are not prepared the same way. Ask for people they have taken through a distance close to yours, in all three disciplines, not only in the one they like best. At World Triathlon a sprint is a 750 m swim, a 20 km bike and a 5 km run, and the Olympic (standard) distance is 1.5 km, 40 km and 10 km. That organisation’s middle distance is 2.5 km, 80 km and 20 km, and the long distance is 4 km, 120 km and 30 km, with the note that the long course can vary a little. If your race uses another course — what many people call a half or a full — the nickname is not enough: ask for the swim metres and the bike and run kilometres of that event.
- How will they fit the three disciplines and strength into your real week? Tell them about work, family, pool days and whether the bike is outside or on the trainer. A good plan fits those gaps. Strength sits on the same calendar, not in an appendix you never do. If the first proposal ignores a day you cannot train, it is not your plan.
- How do they coach technique in the pool and in open water? The pool shows the stroke. In open water you have to sight (lift your eyes to find the buoys), exit the water and, if the race allows it, use a wetsuit. If your race is in open water and the coach only talks about pool sets, ask what they have done with other athletes in the sea, a reservoir or a river.
- Do they programme bricks and transitions? A brick is one session straight into the next, without a real break: swim and bike, or bike and run. Transition 1 (T1) is the change from swim to bike; transition 2 (T2) is from bike to run. Ask how often they put them in, and whether you practise them with the kit you will use on race day, not only “from time to time”.
- How do they read the load of all three sports together? A bike file does not say whether the morning swim and yesterday’s run had already left you flat. Monitoring load helps you see whether you are adapting, and it helps reduce the risk of fatigue that stops being useful, of illness or of injury. There is no single definitive marker: look at what you did and how it felt, for example perceived effort or heart rate, and make the follow-up yours rather than one template for the whole group (Halson, 2014).
- What data do they need, and how does it arrive? Ask what they look at (duration, heart rate, pace or watts, perceived effort, a comment) and whether the data comes back from the watch on its own or you are sending screenshots. If they use a platform, the workout can be sent to Garmin, Polar, Suunto, Apple Watch and Coros, and the activity completed on Garmin comes back to the file. Strava, if you already use it, can sit alongside: it should not be the condition for being coached. The detail of those connections is on integrations.
- How often do you talk? Messages, a call, the reply time, and whether they read what you wrote or only publish the week. Being able to say you are arriving tired is part of the job. How to look after that relationship is in the coach–athlete relationship.
- Do they send an intake form? Before planning they should know your history, injuries, a dated goal, available days, kit, and whether you swim in a pool, in open water or both. A short history on day one avoids a plan written blind. The initial athlete form template shows the kind of questions: use it to see whether the form they send you is too thin.
- What do they do if you are injured or something hurts? They have to be able to drop or stop one discipline without the others carrying on as if nothing had happened. Be wary of anyone who pushes you to train in pain. What to watch on race day (heat, feeding, the course) is in risk management in triathlon and trail; ask them to build the race plan from your event, not from a generic text.
- Do they prepare race day with you? Pacing for each leg, T1 and T2, what to eat and drink, and what to do if the swim goes wrong. It is not a promise of a finish time. It is a script for your race, reviewed in the weeks before, not one PDF for everyone they coach.
Red flags
- They send a closed plan without asking about your hours, injuries or where you swim.
- They paste three separate plans (swim, bike and run) and never look at whether you were already loaded that day.
- They only talk about the sport they are good at and ignore the swim, or they ignore open water when your race is in open water.
- They promise a finish time.
- They never comment on your sessions and change nothing when you say you are tired.
- They push you to train in pain.
- They can only see what you do if you use one particular social network.
- They will not say what the price includes, or what happens to the plan if you are injured or a week falls apart.
What day-to-day looks like with an online triathlon coach
Day-to-day is not a PDF on Sunday and silence until the next one. With someone who actually follows you, the week looks like this:
- You fill in the form: history, injuries, goal, free days, pool, bike and watch.
- You receive the week with swim, bike, run and strength in the gaps that exist, not in the ones that would look good on a poster.
- You train. If the coach sends the session to the watch, you do it from there; if not, ask how the detail of each interval reaches you.
- The data comes back and you write how it felt: effort, sleep, a niggle, whether you could do what was prescribed.
- The coach moves the following days. If the swim and the bike have stacked up, they shorten the run or postpone the brick. They do not wait until Sunday to find out.
- Near the race you prepare the day together: transitions, pacing and what to do if the swim goes sideways. No promised clock time.
Many online triathlon coaches work on a platform like TrainingForever. You use the app, which is free for the athlete, you receive the session on the watch, and the coach sees planned versus completed, your feedback, the messages and the forms. There is an editor for running, trail, cycling, swimming and strength. The workout can be sent to Garmin, Polar, Suunto, Apple Watch and Coros; Garmin activity comes back to the file. Strava is optional.
If you are a coach and what you want is the software, the triathlon training platform guide is for choosing a tool; this page is for the athlete who is choosing a person.
Online duathlon coaching
Duathlon is run, bike and run again: there is no swim. World Triathlon describes a usual format of 10 km, 40 km and 5 km, and a long one with wider ranges (a 10 to 20 km run, a 120 to 150 km bike, a 20 to 30 km run). Your race may be different. Ask for the exact distance.
Almost the whole checklist still applies. What you ask changes: experience in both runs and on the bike, how that volume fits your week, the brick from the bike into the second run (the legs come off the bike already loaded) and the load of both runs plus the bike, not of a single sport. Open-water technique is not required. Do not accept a triathlon plan with the swim simply deleted: the first run already leaves a fatigue the swim does not produce, and the second run is not a fresh 5 km.
When a free plan is enough
A written plan can be enough if your first race is a sprint, you already swim, ride and run a little, you are not carrying an injury that forces a change of sessions every week, and you can follow a fixed week. The 10-week plan is in the free sprint triathlon plan; we do not repeat it here.
Hire an online triathlon coach when the goal is Olympic, half or full, when the pool or work will not fit a standard week, or when something hurts and swim, bike and run have to move together. The value is not the PDF. It is that someone changes the week when yours changes.
What a coach says
“Before you hire a triathlon coach, ask how they will fit swimming, the bike and the run into your real week, with your job and your family. If they send you a closed plan without asking you anything, keep looking.” — Marc Bañuls, endurance coach
Frequently asked questions
What should I ask an online triathlon coach before hiring them?
Ask about their experience in swimming, cycling and running and at your distance, how they will fit the three disciplines and strength into your real week, how they coach the pool and open water, bricks and transitions, what data they need from your watch and how often you will talk. If they send a plan without asking you anything, keep looking.
How does the workout reach my watch?
A coach who uses a platform can send you the session on Garmin, Polar, Suunto, Apple Watch or Coros. The activity completed on Garmin comes back to their file. Strava is optional and should not be the only way they see what you train. Ask how the data arrives in your case.
When is a free triathlon plan enough?
For a first sprint, if you already swim, ride and run a little, you are not carrying an injury that forces a weekly rewrite, and a fixed week fits you, a free plan can be enough. For an Olympic distance, a half or a full, or if your week changes, you want someone who adjusts.
Does this checklist work for an online duathlon coach?
Yes, with one change: duathlon is run, bike and run again, with no swim. Ask about both runs and about the step from the bike into the second run. Do not accept a triathlon plan that has only had the water removed.
Do I pay for the coach’s app?
It depends on the tool. With TrainingForever the athlete’s app is free. The price of the coach’s work is separate: ask for it clearly, in writing, before you start.
Sources
- Halson SL. Monitoring Training Load to Understand Fatigue in Athletes. Sports Medicine. 2014;44(Suppl 2):S139–S147. doi:10.1007/s40279-014-0253-z
- World Triathlon. Talk like a triathlete: sprint, olympic (standard), long distance, duathlon, brick, T1 and T2. triathlon.org/talk-like-a-triathlete
- World Triathlon. Age-group racing: common distances, including middle (2.5 km, 80 km, 20 km) and long (4 km, 120 km, 30 km). triathlon.org/agegroup
Halson checked on Crossref on 4 November 2026 (title, journal and year match). Race distances and terms are from the World Triathlon pages cited, read on 4 November 2026.
