I have been fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with a variety of athletes, their abilities ranging from beginner triathletes participating in their first event to experienced, elite age group athletes. Regardless of their experience or ability level, the common thread for all is their pursuit of a personal goal. Being integral to helping athletes achieve their personal athletic successes is highly rewarding. What makes it such a positive challenge is the fact that every athlete is different. Each athlete has different means and availability for training, differing levels of motivation, and individual attributes that make them respond to training stimulus differently. What is consistent, however, are a number of factors I believe will result in individual success. Outlined below are what I consider these top eleven factors to be. Why eleven? Because we know that #11 always misses out on the top 10 list.

Being in sport, especially triathlon, requires much from the body. We do what we can to recover well, rest, prehab before we rehab, foam roll, stretch; but sometimes, injury creeps up, and BAAM, the season has been diverted or finished before due time. Our grandeur thoughts and visualizations of an epic race season do not come to culmination, and will most likely NOT happen. It will happen to anyone in sport. I guarantee it. A setback or injury will sideline us from either a short term, or the long-term goal.

Winter can be depressing for many runners, cyclists and triathletes. It can often mean more time on the “dreadmill”, the indoor trainer and/or bundled up for slippery runs. I’m not going to lie I spent many years doing that- hours upon hours on the trainer in the winter, running on the dreadmill several times a week when conditions were nasty outside. However too much of this indoor training over time can eventually burn you out. If it hasn’t happened already consider yourself lucky. If you live in an area that sees a fair amount of snow there are other options you can build in to supplement your base training that will not only offset the boredom factor of indoor training and be a lot more fun, but also can build significant fitness! Wherever possible I try to build adventure into my own training and the athletes I coach.

A little over two weeks ago, I ran the New York City Marathon. It was a race I had always wanted to do and to experience. The year prior, I had run a qualifying time for NYC at the Philadelphia Marathon, and so I figured, why not? Because it’s such a unique race, but also hugely iconic and sought after, I thought I would write about the experience for those that might be interested in doing it in the future!

Talking to other athletes (pro and amateur) and poking around on message boards, one of the most common things I hear when it comes to Ironman training is people saying “I don’t want to train for Ironman because it will make me slow.” This statement drives me crazy, and it’s time to rant about it…

I’ve spent half of my life in endurance sports, from Cross Country Running, to Road cycling, to all distance of triathlon, and everything (well, most things) in between. In all facets of these sports, we often get caught up in the results – our outcome-based goals – and try to force our way through training in order to get to that desired result. Beyond the training, however, there are a few other key characteristics and traits that we need to possess for us to truly approach the desired outcome. These are things that folks at all levels require – from spin-class enthusiast to IRONMAN athlete – in order to properly tackle their fitness dreams.

We bought a studio! Sorry, let me rephrase…QT2 Systems, LLC bought a studio! A cycling studio. Ok, so I’m a little late with this. We bought it a year ago. It is exactly what we always wanted to do, but simply never saw as a feasible option, because the start-up costs would be such a tremendous obstacle. Well, sometimes feasibility has a way of working itself out. Somebody builds it out, exactly as you would have wanted it, creates a business around it, runs it, and then comes to a point where life simply takes them in a different direction than originally planned. That’s pretty much how we found ourselves with a studio.

Ironman training and racing can bring with it, a dark side, and bright side. Both a beginner, and seasoned veteran, should be aware of both. The demands of Ironman changes lives, but it is the responsibly of coach and athlete, to ensure the change is going to make the life during and after Ironman healthy. The health of the athlete should be physical, but also mentally and socially. There will be a time, when swim/bike/run will not be part of the prescription for the day. Hopefully, this isn’t during a training block, but it ultimately will be a prescription someday once the athlete moves on from the Ironman lifestyle. As I navigated through my own racing career, and continue to navigate life without Ironman training in it, the bright and dark lessons learned along the way have become clear. I move athletes through training to gain faster splits, but also pay close attention to the impact this training has on the circle of life that surrounds them.

Whether you are an aspiring open water competitor or a triathlete, open water swimming can be an intimidating skill to conquer. Unlike the pool, open water can have varying conditions (think glassy smooth to whitecap chop) and poor visibility. Add to that a few hundred swimmers around you, and it’s no wonder even elite pool swimmers can struggle in open water. Read on for some tips to help you master the skills of open water swimming.

Triathletes talk (a lot!) about swim-bike-run training. That can depend on coaching philosophy and individual training protocol. There is no one set periodization that should be followed for all individuals. A big mistake I see a lot of athletes (particularly with the bitter winters of the north east) do is scale back over the winter and arrive in April with a blank slate, scrambling to get fit for their first race in June. The problem with this is they have no foundation or groundwork to work upon to increase fitness safely without getting injured. April is too late to try and build a base to gain fitness from, work on skill development and spend time getting their race fueling protocol, bike fit, run shoes, wetsuit etc. in racing form.