COACH’S CORNER - Coaching Platforms for Structured Workouts by Jenny Morris
Training peaks v final surge: jenny morris reviews coaching platforms and utilising them for structured workouts
You've made a fantastic decision in choosing to work with a coach—whether it's to prepare for your next goal race, take the guesswork out of your training, or simply to stay accountable. Whatever your reason, you're paying for a service, and that service should be clear, accessible, and easy to follow. You shouldn't have to manually input workouts into your device—your coach should handle that for you. After all, isn’t that what a coach is for?
Firstly, some coaches don’t use a Platform for whatever reason, which is difficult on a number of levels. It is difficult for you, as the athlete to access an Excel spreadsheet or Google Docs form or whatever other format that is being used, it also doesn’t have the facility to comment, add data as a result of your activity, tell your coach how your run or workout went, it’s just messy in my opinion.
On the coaching perspective it is harder to analyze runs and workouts that you are programming, especially if the athlete is not on Strava and also has a Strava Premium account, (Which the athlete is required to pay for annually), as that breaks up the workout too.
Coaching platforms allow the coach to keep track of their athletes in a central place and under the same analytic eye.
Two Platforms that I have used as both an athlete and a coach are discussed here.
WHY DO SOME COACHES NOT CREATE THE WORKOUT FOR THE ATHLETE WHEN THE FACILITY IS SIMPLE AND STRAIGHT FORWARD TO USE
Even when platforms make it easy, there are several reasons coaches might skip building structured workouts:
Time Constraints: Creating individualized workouts takes time. Some coaches manage dozens of athletes and may rely on general plans or verbal guidance.
Coaching Philosophy: Not all coaches believe in rigid structure. Some prefer intuitive training or athlete-led sessions.
Technical Comfort: Despite simplicity, not all coaches are tech-savvy. They may find even basic tools intimidating or cumbersome.
Athlete Autonomy: Some coaches want athletes to take ownership — giving broad goals and letting them fill in the details.
Legacy Habits: Coaches who’ve worked offline for years may not fully embrace digital platforms, even if they use them minimally.
Perceived Value: Some coaches feel that structured workouts are only necessary for elite athletes or specific disciplines.
HOW STRUCTURED WORKOUTS CAN HELP
When used well, structured workouts can:
- Improve compliance and consistency.
- Reduce injury risk through progressive overload.
- Provide clear feedback loops for performance tracking.
- Sync with devices like Garmin and now even COROS for seamless execution.
If you’re coaching or being coached, and the workouts aren’t being built — it’s absolutely fair to ask why. Sometimes a gentle nudge is all it takes to unlock the full potential of these platforms.
Want help designing a structured workout template or nudging a coach toward better use of tech? I’ve got ideas.
Structured workouts are not all that can be shared between athlete and coach via Final Surge, you can attach videos, reference links, Strength programs and many more beneficial coaching tools.
This isn’t intended as a critique of any particular coaching style—many coaches are incredibly successful without using structured workout tools. I simply want to share the benefits I’ve seen from using them, particularly through the Final Surge Training Platform. My athletes have responded really positively and consistently tell me they appreciate the convenience of having workouts already set up for them—removing any guesswork or need to manually create them.
Jenny Morris is a Level 2 coach at Team J, based in NSW. She has coached multiple runners to 100km and milers and all the distances leading up to these. Jenny predominantly excels in the ultra field, including the female winner at the inaugural Bondi to Manly Ultra in 2022.
iF YOU WOULD LIKE MORE INFORMATION ON BEING TRAINED BY Jenny, CLICK THROUGH HERE TO OUR AUTRA ENDORSED COACHES PAGE.
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