By now you’ve likely heard that Team Endurance Nation is accepting new members for the 2013 season THIS WEEK ONLY.You can Become a Team Member to experience our Age Group coaching solution.

We’re excited to have you come inside the Endurance Nation website to check out our resources, support, and meet our amazing our Team. We’d like to take a few minutes here to discuss what TeamEN has to offer the beginner Ironman® and Half Iron / 70.3® athlete.

You have a lot of time and money invested in your race, and you have a LOT at stake in this once-in-a-lifetime, life-changing event.

Triathlon is expensive in many, many ways…and not all of the true costs are apparent at the outset. Here’s how we, inside Endurance Nation, view your total commitment.

#1 — You paid several hundred dollars, probably a year ago, to register.

#2 — Then factor in $$$$ spent on gear, plane tickets, bike shipping, hotels, etc.

#3 — Then add a dollar amount to your training time: X hours per week for months and months (How much is your time worth, anyway?).

#4 — Lastly, don’t forget to add the time cost of your family. They’ve done a LOT to support you, and your training time has been spent away from them. What was the cost of being late to that soccer game or waking up at 4am to run so you could get the kids to school?

Bet you weren’t thinking of #3 or #4…but that’s why we are here for you! Here is what Endurance Nation brings to the table to help beginner triathletes…

TeamEN Training Plans vs the Others
Our training plans are the foundation of our coaching. These plans are in their ninth generation of continuous improvement, honed through the experiences, results, and feedback of over 6,000 athletes. When you compare us to the other coaches out there, ask yourself:

• Do I even know who wrote this plan? When? Has it been touched or revisited, applying the lessons-learned from the athletes who have used it…or the increased knowledge of the coach?
• Is this plan focused on the event or focused on the athlete? Will it fit into life as I know it?
• What results have the users of this plan achieved? Can I find any testimonials?

Rich Strauss & Patrick McCrann vs Other Coaches

Perhaps you want a bit more than a training plan and are looking to hire a personal coach, maybe even a coach local to you.

We have been coaching half and full Ironman® age-group athletes exclusively since 2001 and 2003 respectively, with over 600 individual Ironman® finishers — first-timers, podium, age group winners and Kona qualifiers — between us by 2007, when we founded Endurance Nation.

Endurance Nation is nearly 800 athletes strong and has had over 1000 Ironman® finishers every year since about 2009. Our ranks include Ironman® age group winners, podium finishers, and Kona qualifiers, as well as average groupers setting huge PR’s. More importantly, this is a huge data set of what does and doesn’t work for the real-world age group triathlete.

Over 6000 athletes have used our training plans.

We ourselves have nearly 25 Ironman® finishes between us, including several Konas.  Google us and you’ll find our training articles featured on Active.com, Xtri, TriFuel…our articles have been publised in Inside Triathlon and Triathlete magazine among others. Over 18,000 athletes subscribe to our newsletter to receive quality, Ironman-specific training and racing tips.

In short, we challenge you to find two more experienced, Ironman-specific coaches working together in the triathlon space. And, yes, Ironman® coaching is most definitely a specialty in the field of triathlon coaching, significantly different from coaching local athletes to sprints and Olympic distance races.

When you compare us to other coaches, ask yourself:

• How does this coach’s Ironman® coaching and racing experience compare with Rich and Patrick?
• Where are the results and testimonials of his/her athletes? Can I talk to them about the coach?
• Has the coach produced any content (written, audio, or video) that allows me to learn more about their coaching knowledge, the instruction style, etc?
• Will this coach teach me how to race Ironman? See our DVD, our Power Webinar, and IM Course Talks.
• Finally, what is this coach’s monthly fee? TeamEN athletes pay, at most, $109/four weeks for membership. What does your coach offer to command a 200 to 400% markup?  Our athletes save $3600/yr vs paying for a one-on-one coach. That’s a new bike…a powermeter…a family vacation…you get the idea.

Support and Community

Perhaps you’re considering using an inexpensive training plan and a free forum as support. The training plans used by our team on our proprietary platform are accompanied by nearly a dozen ebooks, dozens of instructional videos, over 100 podcasts and a living online resource wiki.

Ask a training or racing question in our forums and you’ll receive an answer from the Team in minutes; from the coaches, in threads we have created for exclusive athlete-to-coach feedback, within 24 hours.

Most importantly, EN is a paid community led by experienced Ironman® coaches. Everyone has skin in the game of creating value for the community, by providing each other with quality, correct, and polite feedback.

Most importantly, this support and these resources are provided within the framework of a unified coaching methodology. In short, you won’t have to wade through incorrect, conflicting advice in our forums to get the help you need.

When you compare TeamEN to other internet resources:

• Are members paying to be there? We’ve found that the dollar is a pretty powerful filter for weeding out people not willing to contribute.
• Are members required to use their real names? TeamEN athletes are First Name, Last Name, period, no exceptions. No hiding online, and besides, when we meet at a race or a training camp, it’s just better to know who you are!
• Post a question. How good and how prompt is the feedback? Do you receive consistent feedback or does your thread become a debate, with you as the referee to decide who is correct and what advice to use?
• Will the Team have a presence at your race? Rich and Patrick go to almost every US Ironman. TeamEN will have 25-60 athletes at EVERY race. Our Team dinners are attended by 50+ athletes, friends and family. What’s it worth to introduce your wife and 3 kids to another family and have them taken care of by the team while you race?
• Is there a training camp on your course? Uniforms? Options for your family to hang out while you race?

In summary, the quality of our training plans and the experience, support, and knowledge of the coaches and Team will bring you several years up the learning curve.

You’ll do everything right, the first time, without wading through several years and messed up races as you try to figure it out on your own.

If you are ready to take the leap, or explore your options, click the button below to become a team member.