If you race, you'll be looking for a coach to help you ride faster in any number of environments: track, circuit, road or time trial or perhaps a combination of all of those. Fast is good. As the old saying goes - speed kills, but only if you use it in the right place at the right time.  
  
If you race, you're likely to have clear goals and will understand what success looks like to you. It might be about race results, time, getting on to a BC programme or increasing your power output.  Any of there are most likely to be achieved by dedicated purposeful training aimed at maximising your physiological, technical and tactical abilities. Sounds pretty dry doesn't it? But successful training also needs to be engaging and fun to stop you from going crackers in the process. Finding out what really motivates you is vital to success.        

​As a minimum, you should expect a structured training plan to

• Benchmark your current physiological, technical, tactical and psychological cycling profile
• Set SMART goals and targets
• Include an annual periodised training plan
• Deliver training sessions to your PC or mobile device via Training Peaks software
• Provide for regular weekly contact for feedback and analysis
• Inform the selection of training events or races appropriate to your goals 
• Access to coaching days on the track, circuit and road
• Analysis and interpretation of power, HR and other telemetry and data 
  
• Advice on off the bike Strength & Conditioning and core work 

Ultimately, success comes from having a plan and, yes, working hard to achieve it but a huge part of this is ensuring you enjoy the process.