I've done all 3, and for the past few years I've stuck to being self coached. I've dealt with some physical issues which the average coach just couldn't understand. I think a lot of Masters athletes have very specific physical issues that need to go in unison with training; bad backs, hip issues (me), knee problems, etc.

Personally, I think the problem with canned training plans is a plan should not be static. It should be modified if needed on feel, which some coaches can do but others cant. If I have an off night and just have no energy, I should be able to email my coach and get a modification or be told to suck it up.

I enjoy researching the sport and new training theories but that being said self coached athletes tend to do too much or too little. I tend to do too much volume but not enough high end volume. I personally love group rides, and mixing those in means I don't optimize my training zones. For example my Saturday ride I don't think I got in more than 10 minutes of threshold because I sat in and there was a crash. My Tuesday rides the first hill can blow up my whole effort for the rest of the ride. Structure would definitely be better, but not funner.

Yup. I've tended to self-coach in most sports, from boxing to cycling. And on the two occasions when I was lucky enough to hook up with good boxing coaches for a few months I realized how inadequate my self-coaching was.

On the bike I keep hearing the voice of my Marine Corps physical fitness trainer (I was a Navy Corpsman but SSgt Munden was a legendary PT instructor for many of us swabbies who were assigned to Fleet Marine duty back in the 1970s). SSgt Munden would bark stuff like "Pain is beautiful, bud!" and "If it doesn't hurt you're doing it wrong!" Which was great for lazy squids like us. We knew our Navy boot camp was like boy scout camp compared with the Marines next door in San Diego.

But I ain't a teenager anymore and need to train more appropriately for my age.

With cycling I would read tips from experts, and am a big fan of the GCN videos -- particularly those with Matt, because he was older and I could relate to watching him struggle alongside the younger cyclists (it's also hilarious to watch Simon huffing and puffing a bit more to keep up with Emma on climbs, but she's a mountain goat).

I thought I had a good handle on my workouts and a fairly methodical approach suitable for my age (60). So I didn't bother with a heart rate monitor, checking my BP, power meters, etc.

But in May this year I was clobbered by a car and had my shoulder broken and dislocated. Couldn't even ride a trainer indoors for the first four weeks. But I read and watched more tutorials and paid closer attention to advice about zones and an appropriate heart rate for approximate zones, considering my age.

So when I resumed using the indoor trainer last week I wore a wrist mounted BP/HR cuff. I was surprised to find how little effort it took to reach my estimated target maximum heart rate of 160. On good days it felt like I could ride that pace for an hour without resting, which didn't seem to fit the usual notions of a Zone 4.

It was very easy to stay around 130 but difficult to reduce my heart rate with any effort. Just spinning my feet in lower gears with almost no resistance kept my HR around 110-120, which didn't seem quite right, although I've always tended to have a fast resting pulse.

And I noticed my blood pressure would seem to rise dramatically, around 160/90, then gradually lower a bit after a warm up to around 140/70 and stay pretty close to that throughout, dipping down to 120-130/70 during my cool down.

After a few days of that I felt like I hadn't lost too much fitness during the month off recuperating from the shoulder injury, so I started sprinting on the trainer, as hard as I could sustain for 30 seconds, stopping just when I felt light headed and bit gaggy -- not nauseous, but like I would be in another 30 seconds at that rate. I was certain my HR had to be over 200, but it tended to peg at 170-173, very consistently.

And I always feel great after those indoor workouts. Not exhausted and achy like I was after some of my outdoor rides this year.

Now I'm wondering whether my approach to outdoor riding was wrong. I probably wasn't resting enough between workouts, might have been pushing too hard some days when I wasn't well rested and basically burning myself out rather than progressing. And I was never really doing any "recovery rides" at significantly reduced effort because I was too conscious about my speed and time on familiar routes and Strava segments.

So while I've ignored stuff like monitors, etc., before, I may reconsider and take a more methodical and measurable approach when I resume outdoor riding in a few more weeks. And I really need to either forget about Strava segments or ride less familiar routes. I'm so familiar with my favorite 20-30 mile training route it's hard to just relax. And I need to do more casual group rides with friends. Those used to be my recovery type rides up until this year when I rode solo more often and tended to push myself harder.

What you were doing is not what I consider to be self-coaching ; in fact, "winging it" would be generous.