What It Means to Receive Coaching

As I wrote in my Fuji Hill report, I have been receiving coaching that is not AI-based since February.
Depending on the month, there are menus that involve actual riding, so the training is not just self-indulgent.

Why I decided to receive coaching

Coaching involves a non-trivial expense.
And since it is not a material thing, it does not remain in your hands.
For the same amount of money, you could buy the trendy wheels that everyone is excited about right now.
However, the foundation of road biking is the human, not the equipment. Also, "training" is not something that can be simplified into intervals, Z2, SST, etc., but is a combination of various skills.
I wanted to strengthen my weak point, which is "how to spend time during a slump."

Weakening due to a "slump"

Generally, the flow of training on a monthly basis is 3 weeks ON / 1 week OFF. If you continue training with this perspective, you will stop feeling progress at some point. It is hard to put into words, but it is a symptom where you cannot reach the intensity you were able to reach until last week, or even if you do, your heart rate is high, or you cannot maintain it.
Before receiving coaching, even when I reached this state, I would interpret it as a "growth point" and try to tackle higher intensity, and then I would fall apart. Also, I would lower the intensity in the first place to avoid getting into this state.
By doing so, my FTP, which was 240w as of June 2025, was 245w as of the end of January 2026. I only grew 5w in half a year. (PWR is about 4.1x, you know★)
In the first place, in my case, once I entered this "slump," I was in a state where I couldn't get out for quite a long time.
Getting back from there is a struggle, and growing further is a dream story.
Based on the above experience, I judged that in my case, reviewing my training habits was a more effective investment than improving performance through equipment.

Changes in the menu

Basically, my life consists of 1.5h to 2.0h of practice in the morning on weekdays, and about 3h on holidays, totaling around 10h of habits.
I tell this to my coach and have them create a menu.
The menu varies depending on the period.
At first, it is base-type and pedaling skill-type, in the middle period it is threshold-type, and in the latter period it is high-intensity and anaerobic-type.
However, it is more appropriate to say that it is not that I only do that during the week, but that the ratio changes.
Also, because multiple elements are mixed into a single menu, I can recover even if I fail somewhere.

Changes in thinking

First of all, the biggest change was my thinking about the menu.
Previously, I thought that if I didn't complete everything, it was meaningless and ineffective. After coaching, I realized that even if I couldn't do everything, it was still effective, and that it was important to think about why I couldn't do it and make corrections.
The menu has set numbers of sets and rests, but thinking about the essence, if power attainment was required, I would take longer rests to devise ways to complete the sets where power was not reached. Also, if I was not feeling well and could not produce power, I would adjust by reducing the number of sets. In short, I had to check my body's condition well and feel how much I could do in my "current state."
I think this work was very useful for preventing overwork.
Every time I finished the daily menu, I wrote my impressions and reflections of the day in Intervals, and exchanged reports and advice with my coach, which helped me achieve stability, especially in terms of my mental state.

Growth in riding

Well, about a month later, I felt a noticeable change in my riding.
It's a cliché expression, but the shortness of breath and heart rate in areas that were difficult until now have calmed down considerably.
There was an experience where I thought, "Am I growing?" such as being able to easily clear a menu that was difficult at the beginning of the month. I don't do FTP tests, and I don't ride at the time and intensity to measure eFTP, but my power from 1s to 20m and so on were updated across the board.

The slump that came

After I thought this wave of growth had come, a wave of slump arrived.
The trigger was a 2-hour enduro. When I put out power just below FTP intensity (at the time) for 2 hours straight, I couldn't produce power as I wanted from the next day.
Since there was an ON period of a little less than 4 weeks, it was natural to say the least. Since that week was a rest week, I didn't pay much attention to it, but even from the following week, the power didn't go up easily.
During that time, I was about to fall into a mental state of thinking that my growth had stopped, that I wouldn't grow no matter what menu I did, and that I was a failure.
However, my coach told me that a slump period is natural. He told me that even J-Pro players and players who go to the Tour rarely maintain good condition throughout the year, so I made an effort to build up steadily.

What is "recovery"?

The period when I was depressed was a little long, about 3 weeks.
During that time, I couldn't feel the "feeling of spinning well" that I felt last month at all, and I worried and worried about whether my position was bad or my diet was bad.
In the midst of that, I had the opportunity to ride around Odawara with a group I am close with in CX. They were people with more power than me, and I thought I would be dropped on the mountain, but I was able to keep up without being dropped unexpectedly, and I was able to regain the feeling of pedaling.
From here, my condition gradually improved.

Effect of actual riding training

From the second month, I started actual riding training. I was having online interviews, and I was able to resolve anxieties and questions through interviews and menu reviews, but it is overwhelmingly more effective and faster to have someone actually see my pedaling skills, how to enter training, and my form, and solve them.
In the first place, I, who had almost no opportunity to ride with skilled people, did not have the opportunity to ride so as not to be dropped.
After all, it is important to ride with skilled and strong people.
Through such opportunities, the quality of my daily menu definitely improved, and from the next month, the number of times my power for each time increased.

Adjustment before the race

The purpose of receiving coaching is not just to become strong, but to get good results in the race you are aiming for.
For that, how you spend time before the race becomes quite important. Before an event, SNS is overflowing with opinions that are just n=1, such as "how to do tapering." However, what is important is to make your body perform at its best.
Regarding this, you have to experience the target race several times and do trial and error.
For example, in my case, even if I train until 3 days before, there is little effect on the day. My body moves better if I include high intensity properly.
However, for some people, fatigue might become stronger.
Even for things like this, it's fine if you can do it alone, but I think the certainty increases if you can review it with multiple people.

Maintaining motivation

Maintaining motivation is a very important factor in training. I am no exception; my motivation drops, and if anything, I am mentally weaker than most people. That is precisely why I ask for a coach to act as a monitor. Although I say monitor, there is nothing strict about it; on the contrary, they are kind, so I can rest without hesitation. However, humans are strange creatures; when you have the peace of mind that comes from being fully accepted, the feeling of wanting to try, even just a little bit, grows stronger.
As a result, this leads to a state where the maximum effect of continuing training can be achieved.

Peace of mind during rest

After continuing coaching for several months, the negative feelings toward rest disappear.
Previously, I had the common, flawed mindset that "resting equals a decline in physical condition." However, as I complete the menus provided through coaching, I start to feel that if I don't rest, I won't be able to complete the next menu, or that I want to rest because it's tough.
It really hits home how half-hearted my intensity was until now, and how I had the mindset that training was just about doing volume. Rest is also a fine training menu, and it is a necessary menu for exploring how to rest so that I can perform at my best. I began to feel that "rest is a preparation day for the next step," and I was able to rest with peace of mind.
However, in my case, I found that if I take a complete rest the day after a race, the fatigue actually intensifies, which hinders the completion of subsequent menus. As a result, I do a pleasant ride or roller session in the form of active recovery without disrupting my daily rhythm.
This is also a habit that I would not have discovered if I hadn't spent time being conscious of it.

Equipment or Coaching

Well, for those who have read this far, the conclusion should be obvious. Of course, it is bothand it differs from person to person.
As I mentioned earlier, in my case, my mindset and habits regarding training were not optimized. Also, there were many areas where I was immature in terms of skills such as form and pedaling. So, what about people who don't have problems in these areas? Since areas for improvement are often things like menu composition, it cannot be said unconditionally that coaching will improve them. In fact, there is a possibility that their rhythm could be disrupted and their performance could drop (well, people who have achieved that much probably wouldn't lose their rhythm, though).
In such cases, it would be better to buy equipment to aim for better results.

I believe that for beginners, busy working adults, and those who do not belong to a team and have few opportunities to learn, receiving "coaching" can be the catalyst for growth.