I look back on 30 years since I started triathlon and reflect back on my coaching and coaches I have had along the way and to my surprise, I was coached more than I thought, now that I have experience and an understanding of the roles of a coach.  I detail what worked well as when I was a coach and self-coached and how I progressed under different coaching styles, philosophies, and methodologies to create my own style. 

I have had many roles as a coach, from youth and adult swimming, triathlon, run, both road and trail, I have applied what I learned to t2coaching.

Types of Coaches

Youth Swim Coach 

My initial experience with coaching was K-College as an age group – high school – collegiate swimmer. During those 16 years as a swimmer, I only had 4 swim coaches (not including my summer league, although many of my year round coaches were also my summer league coaches), Tim, Scott, Mike and Maureen.

Tim was great with us elementary age kids, sometimes we would do synchronized swimming for practice and that was super fun and great variety. 

Next we transitioned to Scott, part of elementary though Junior High. He always drew stick figures on a chalkboard to explain swim technique, and we swam over mirrors, now I see the value and wish I could incorporate that into my swim coaching. Scott left my freshman year in high school and Coach Mike became both my High School and USA Swim (year round) coach.  

I was devastated when Coach Scott left since he was my coach most of my life and Mike was harsh, mean and swore, seemed like he let his frustrations out on us. Over time, Coach Mike had our best interests at heart. Summer times was so much fun since we could go boating and he would add extra practice time without pay. He became my most influential,  he was like a father figure to me, always going above and beyond the pool coaching role, an inspiration.  When he told me I would get a scholarship to college and I had no idea what that meant, it was never a goal until he came along. I ended up with a full ride to Eastern Michigan University with Coach Maureen. Coach Mike passed along the tradition of swimming his age in the 100s on this birthday and I carry that tradition into my lifestyle and the athletes I coach.

Swimming in college was not my best experience. I started triathlon after my freshman year and was excited to transition to that sport and continue to swim for the money. Coach Maureen was not my favorite since she did not know much about distance swimmer training and I felt like I got out of swimming shape in college. I was depressed and missed Coach Mike. She also told me to lose 5 pounds the summer after my freshman year and that led to me having “disordered eating” which eventually led to my Masters Thesis, “Eating, training and prevalence of disordered eating Among Triathletes”. Each experience is alway a learning opportunity. I was a frustrated collegiate swimmer, never reaching my potential. 

My First Triathlon Coach Experience

When I completed my first triathlon 1992, I fell in love with the sport. Getting to train twice a day without getting wet was joyful.  The sport of triathlon was very new and there was not much coaching or internet to learn. I was a self coached triathlete, no training logs, or GPS devices to track training or intensity, until my parents gifted me a Polar Heart Rate Monitor in 1993. I wore it all the time, trying to learn all I could about heart rate based training. I used my heart rate monitor to learn RPE. I ran by time, biked and swam using distance.

Before and after I qualified for the 1997 Ironman World Championships, because I was self coached, my training was all over the place. No progression with time, distance or intensity. One week I would run 15 miles, the next week 45 miles etc. It’s no wonder I got injured the week after I qualified at Desert Sun Half Ironman. After that, a friend of a friend, Shane, found out I was going to Kona and sat down with me once and laid out a 8 week plan leading up to the event and told me the details about Hawaii, Kona layout etc. He was an athlete that had raced in Kona and wanted to share his knowledge with me, he was not an official coach. I describe this as a coaching experience because he shared his knowledge and wrote me a 8 week progressive training plan with taper. I still have the notebook with all the details. Training plans are just one aspect of coaching. I was so thankful to find someone that understood what I was experiencing and grateful for his expertise. 

My First REAL Triathlon Coach

I moved to Colorado after graduating from Eastern Michigan University in 1995 and swore I would never have a coach telling me what to do until I met Tony. He coached Masters Swimming and the reason I started working at the Fort Collins Health Club in 1999, to swim with Tony. At that time, he was a professional triathlete, also my boss and offered to write triathlon training plans for me.  Together Tony and I started the Northern Colorado Triathlon Team and that is when I knew I wanted to be a triathlon coach someday. 

His coaching method was writing my training plan on paper with pencil, sitting down once a month and discussing how training was going. No details on intensity to power/pace/heart rate zones, Just time and or distance based.  Since we worked together we developed a great relationship and he got to know me from a personal level. That was when I realized coaching was more than just a training plan. 

Having someone like Tony support, someone who was on my journey with me was fantastic. He wrote my plans for a couple years and a highlight was seeing him on the course while I was racing the 5430 Sports Boulder Ironman in 2002. It was awesome and one part of my coaching is going to local events to support athletes. 

I craved qualifying for Kona again. Despite Tony writing my plans, I tended to do more than what he suggested the week before and always went into a race exhausted. I also did not have any daily nutrition guidance, or fueling guidance and I did not know about tapering and never qualified for Ironman World Championships again until 2003, when I finally educated myself about nutrition and recovery. 

When I became a personal trainer, clients would ask me to create a training plan for them and  I followed Tony’s lead and I started writing schedules for clients And, I became the masters swim coach when Tony left to become a firefighter.

My Second Triathlon Coach

After the 2003 Ironman World Championships, I decided I wanted to focus on getting faster and not continue the Ironman Training and hired my friend Jason whom I went to grad school with at CSU. He sent me a notebook with lots of educational information and a typed up training plan. I recall we chatted once a month on the phone. I learned some new ways/ideas to train for speed, and cut my training volume/hours and was very successful. I enjoyed our coach/athlete relationship because we started with a friendship and could relate to each other. While not training for an Ironman from 2004-2006, I got faster and qualified for the Olympic distance World Championship in 2005 in Honolulu and won my age group. In 2006 I qualified for both the 70.3 and Ironman World Championship and declined the slot because that was not my focus. 

Establishing a relationship is a very important component with a Coach and Athlete. I started my coaching business in 2003 and took many years to find out my niche, how to communicate the training plan details. I started a local coaching group, Team Trifecta while establishing myself as an online coach in 2008.

Self Coaching

In 2007, a friend I was coaching suggested I race Ironman Arizona with her. At that time Jason and I ended the coach/athlete relationship and we remain friends. Now, back to self coaching as a faster athlete training for my next Ironman I was excited to get back to longer training. I took the knowledge gained for Jason and Tony and many books I read applied it to myself. I qualified for Kona at Ironman AZ, finished 17th in my age group in Kona, and I attribute my success to my previous coaches. As a self coached athlete, I was back to more of the random training protocol.

My Third Triathlon Coach 

In 2008, I was ready to make it to the next level and podium, top 5 in Kona and knew the benefits of having a coach based on previous past experiences.  Based on friends’ recommendation, I went with Multisport Coaching. This relationship was long distance and the first time I kept a training log and got real feedback with monthly coaching calls on how I was doing, not data based, all subjective feedback based.  Based on my current life circumstances, I also had unlimited time to train. I raced Ironman CDA and on the road to Kona again. 

I learned so much from Coach and won the Amateur Division that year! It was super exciting that I got to share my experience with him at the awards Banquet.  

In 2009, my life schedule was different, I had limited time to train, and felt he was not was not listening to me and sending me the same plan as in 2008. I learned the value of communication and customized training plans, because I did not feel I was getting that in 2009 so having the hard conversation ended that relationship after a disappointing Ironman World Championship experience. Now I was super frustrated and lacked direction going into 2010.

Single Sport Coaching

Many triathletes have a multisport coach overseeing their program and often also swim with a master swim coach. In 2010, I became self coached again. My friend Andy, an elite cycling coach, helped me out in trade for giving his daughter swim lessons. Fast forward to Kona, I destroyed myself on the bike because that was my training focus and realized the importance of multisport not single sport training for success in multisport, triathlon is one sport. I was disappointed in myself for the randomness and expectations I had.

Ultra Run Coaching

I am self coached and my 2011 season revolved around completing Ironman Lake Placid in July.  I was not ready to be done and jumped into Run Rabbit Run, a 50 mile trail run in Steamboat 6 weeks later. I had  ZERO running on trails experience and thought, how hard could it be? I detailed by race report here

In 2012, the race director convinced me to Run, Run Rabbit Run 100 miler and I DNFed at mile 70, so was determined to finish in 2013 and needed help with training so based on his suggestion hired a professional Ultra Runner to coach me. The relationship was short. He coached my friend and was not a great fit for me. I wanted more than a time and distance workout schedule, I needed technique coaching so quickly went back to self coaching and dove into educating myself about Ultra Running. I learned that you can be an elite athlete and not a great coach, at least for what I was looking for in a coach.  I finished Run Rabbit Run in 2013 

My Fourth Triathlon Coach

After focusing on trail running,  completing my one and only 100 mile trail run, I was ready to get back to Ironman Training and wanted a coach to jumpstart my triathlon journey to Kona  again. I went with a friend because I trusted her, she was dominant in cycling which was my weak link. We had been friends since I started triathlon. And, in 2014 I started using a power meter, so this was the first time my metrics were taken into account to monitor training intensity more than RPE and progress. We spoke every week and she was very caring with her athletes, more than just a training plan. I had another great experience in Kona that year. She coached me in 2015 and unfortunately I had some health issues and struggled with anemia limiting my performance  at Ironman Boulder and chance to qualify for Kona. I was disappointed and also relieved I had struggled to share with other athletes  I coach. Struggles can set you up for comebacks.

Training with power with a coach that understood the metrics was nice. I learned so much and have a variety of workouts that were on workoutlog. Laura and I remain friends and I have used her coaching on and off for the next few years. 

Self Coaching, Again

In 2016, my focus was on moving from CO to GA, so again I knew it was best to be self coached training for the Boston Marathon (I qualified in Kona in 2014), and like every year being self coached after having a coach, I was able to implement some new ideas into my training.  I am self motivated so dont need that accountability that coaching provides. 

Approaching the end of 2016, I had thoughts of qualifying for the 2017 Ironman World Championships, to celebrate my 20th anniversary since my first Ironman Kona experience and with 10 weeks notice, signed up for Ironman Cozumel held in November. I did not qualify for Cozumel.

Since I was  successful with Coach Laura in 2014, and she lived in GA, I hired her again, in 2017 to get me ready for Ironman Texas where I qualified and raced in the 2017 Ironman World Championships,  and then again in 2018 to prepare me for Ironman Chattanooga, unfortunately due to a mechanical failure on the bike I missed another opportunity to qualify. I was very disappointed and just needed a break again from chasing the Kona qualification. I just wanted to experience finishing top 5 in my age group again.

In 2019 I went back to self coaching, undecided what my goals, Ultra or Ironman. After the 2020 pandemic, I remained self coached, until now, 2023, I hired a local Ultra Run Coach and have learned so much about myself, how I coach relative to others, what I struggle with coaching certain athletes, I found myself doing and so far, so good.  I hired a coach to detail my experiences and lessons learned.