No coach? No problem!

Sometimes it feels as though I'm making things up as I go along... with respect to training, that is. I've never had a coach, so I don't have anyone in my ear telling me why this workout is better than that one, or that I need a rest day tomorrow. I'd love to have one, but the wedding is only about 2 months away now, and getting married is more expensive than anyone told me. The latest expenditures include wedding bands, new appliances, and the final payment on our Mexican wedding vacation (which is supposedly going to be cheaper than a "real" wedding). Right now, I don't have a lot of cash left over for a monthly coaching fee. That's usually when I turn to my good friend, the internet. Now, of course we all know that everything on the internet is 100% true. Wait... it isn't? Right. So then I guess I have to use the odd bit of common sense. Truth is, most of my information comes from the internet. Given my relatively rookie-ish triathlete status, it isn't hard to find people with more experience (and therefore hopefully more knowledge) than me. I read as much as I can on everything from training programs to rest and recovery to nutrition to equipment and so on. There is sooo much information out there... it can be a little overwhelming. I just try to sort through it, determine what may or may not apply to me and my goals, and see how I might be able to use it in the triathlon portion of my life. I visit many blogs, and usually a few times a week I stop by trifuel and slowtwitch to see what's going on. The forums that let people "speak" to each other makes them a golden source of information. There are stories directly from other people - with both happy and sad endings - plus advice on just about anything. It's nice to get more than one viewpoint about a piece of equipment, for example, from someone other than the dude who is trying to sell it to you. A lot of the articles I read suggest getting a coach... saying it is one of the best ways to advance your abilities. Believe me, I would if I could. But for now, my computer and I are doing just fine.