Coaching History
I've been coaching for over 20 years now, starting my journey at a young age. In middle school I began studying training principles and started putting together plans for the bike races I was doing. My senior year of high school I took on the roll of helping coach my fellow distance runners through the track season, and in college I began writing training plans for friends and co-workers. By my mid-20's I had made a business out of coaching runners and triathletes. It was around that time that I began coaching youth club track, with a small but extremely successful club in Austin, TX (The South Austin Steel), and also completed an intensive year long personal training instruction and internship program at the University of Texas. Over the course of a few years I would help several athletes achieve PR's, national qualifiers and podiums at Junior Olympics. Upon moving to Washington I established a new youth club (The Speed Factory), built a Pilates studio, coached high school track, cross-country and swim in assistant and head coaching roles. I continued expanding and refining my skills as a coach learning from those around me and mentoring young up and coming coaches. I have helped produce dozens of collegiate athletes in track, cross-country, soccer, rowing, football, etc, with several state champions, state podium finishers, national qualifiers, and world championship qualifiers. Additionally, I began working with Team RunRun several years ago to provide online training for runners and triathletes. Through Team RunRun I've worked with athletes from ages 15 on up into their 60's on events from 5k up to 100 mile ultras with a high level of success and many happy athletes.
Athletic Background
I've been active and competitive for the majority of my life. As a kid I played every major sport with soccer and basketball being my two favorites. I was good at ball sports, but I really excelled in endurance related activities. Before I was a teenager I began racing road and mountain bikes, and quickly had a lot of success. By the time I was 14 I had notched several wins and podiums in distances from 20-100+ miles having usually to compete against men since there weren't many kids my age racing at the time. My junior year of high school I began running cross-country and track, again, having lots of initial success. Though I had opportunities to compete in college I chose a full academic scholarship to the University of Texas instead. I continued bike racing and running though, and after joining the Marine Corps, I started doing triathlons. It was a good combination of sports for me that I was able to excel in. I earned several age group wins and podium finishes, eventually earning USAT All-American honors. After moving to Washington in 2011 I began trail racing starting with some short distance races and later working my way into ultra-marathons. Since that time I have had several top 10 finishes and some overall podiums on the trails in distances all the way up to 100k. Trail and ultra continue to be my main gig, and you can find me racing multiple times throughout the year.