Who are Spin Doctor Coaching?
Dr Deborah Latouf is the Head Coach of Spin Doctor Coaching. Deborah has been coaching cycling and triathlon for 30 years during her career as a Sport Scientist in Australia, the UK, and South Africa.
Liz Nelson is a degree qualified exercise scientist and Spin Doctor Coaching’s senior coach. Liz has been coaching athletes in many disciplines for the last 30 years. Liz works alongside Deborah at Spin Doctor Coaching.
What do you do?
We coach road cycling and triathlon using evidence based principles of sport science. The programs are delivered through the TrainingPeaks platform and are crafted individually for each athlete
How much does it cost?
The initial consultation to discuss goals, training commitment and expectations from both parties is FREE. It’s important to establish if we are the right “fit” for you and vice versa.
The onboarding fee for all athletes is $200. More information is available HERE.
We offer an all inclusive coaching package with no tiered levels of support as we encourage as much communication as you need. Our rates can be found HERE.
Consultation and data analysis independent of coaching is available at $100 per hour.
One on one ‘hands on’ coaching on the bike is $150 per session.
Do I need TrainingPeaks?
You sure do. This is the only platform we deliver our coaching services through and you will require a Premium account. This costs USD$10 per month, which can be paid directly to Training Peaks monthly or annually. You’ll also need a head unit (such as a Garmin or Wahoo). Garmin Connect and Strava will also help with the auto sync of your uploads. For deeper analysis of your data we use the TrainingPeaks extension package WKO5. This is included in your monthly coaching fee.
Do I need a power meter?
A power meter is required if you would like to work with us. Of all the investments you can make in your training (other than working with a good coach), this will make the single biggest difference to the effectiveness of your training. They have come down in price quite a bit over the past few years and there are now many good options available for less than AUD$1000.
How often do you look at my training sessions?
Every. Single. Day.* Once your athlete account is synced to our TrainingPeaks coach accounts we receive a notification each time you upload a workout. Generally speaking, we analyse training files every morning. You’ll know when your file has been analysed, as there will be a comment on it. Sometimes it might just be one word, sometimes it might be a thesis.
*Occasionally, either coach may be away competing or travelling, in which case the file will be addressed the next day.
How often can I contact you and how?
You can contact us as much as you need to. We have some athletes that are in contact with us several times a day; and others who don’t contact us much other than through the comments in TrainingPeaks. It is whatever works for you. Much of the communication takes place through TrainingPeaks, but we also use Messenger a lot, including the video call function.
I’m just an age grouper/masters level athlete, is getting a coach like you really justified?
Of course it is! You are exactly the sort of athlete we work best with. We understand you have work and family commitments, but your goals are still important to you. You need to get great ‘bang for your buck’ from training as you have limited time available. We specialise in making sure athletes do the right sort of training. It is our job to get the best adaptation in performance possible for you in the time available to train.
Got another question that isn’t covered here? Please contact us