AI is suddenly everywhere—inside training platforms, dashboards, and even your athletes’ questions. Coaches are asking: which tools can I trust and where do I still matter most? In a world where AI hype is boundless, this course reveals real world ways coaches can leverage AI for their athletes and shows why human coaches are critical to athlete success.
Our online course, How to Use AI to Enhance Coaching, follows physiologist and Athletica.ai founder Dr. Paul Laursen as he unpacks what “real” AI can do for endurance training—and what it can’t. You’ll see exactly how AI fits into modern training prescription, how to avoid inaccurate outputs, and how to keep your role at the center of the coach–athlete relationship—while AI quietly handles the heavy lifting in the background.
You’ll learn how to:
- Clean up “garbage-in, garbage-out” data so AI tools can read your athletes correctly filtering out bad GPS files, missed sessions, or untagged cross-training that would otherwise taint zones and prescriptions.
- Ask better AI questions and spot “hallucinations,” using techniques like RAG (retrieval-augmented generation) and ring fencing so your tools rely on expert knowledge instead of generic internet advice.
- Identify trustworthy AI platforms. Laursen shows how to spot reliable platforms by looking for data-quality safeguards, adaptive scheduling, load and recovery metrics, and RAG-backed (expert-anchored) advice.
- Blend AI insights with human coaching skills, using cues like athlete mood, comments, and motivation, what Coach Grant Holicky calls the joy and play of sport, to adjust plans in ways no algorithm can.
Whether you’re AI-skeptical, AI-curious, or already experimenting with various tools, this course will help you understand where AI truly fits in your coaching: as the engine that handles complexity in the background while you stay out front, coaching the whole athlete, protecting their longevity in sport, and guiding them to smarter, more sustainable performance.
How to Enroll
All USA Cycling courses are offered exclusively through USA Cycling’s online learning management system at learn.usacycling.org.
Questions? Contact Suzy Sanchez, Director of DEI and Membership Programs, at ssanchez@usacycling.org.
