About Me

I have been in athletics since 2001 participating in numerous road races from 5k’s to 10 milers and half marathons across the US and internationally. By the end of 2006, after having been an engineer, recruiter and small business owner, I decided to join the fitness industry full time by becoming a certified spinning instructor. That turned out to be just the tip of the iceberg! Since then, I have diligently and passionately pursued this career and developed my capabilities through education and training, and have gained a solid understanding of injury prevention.

Because I Love Helping People, Be Healthier, Be More Fit, Be More Confident

I joined the triathlon arena in 2008 participating in my first few sprint triathlons, but quickly advancing to the Olympic distance. I was on the podium in the first year of competing in triathlons while also managing a busy lifestyle at home and lots of traveling with my husband Jim. Since then, I have participated in numerous Olympic distance and Half Ironman triathlons as well as the full Ironman in South Africa. During my time in South Africa, I gained international experience, where I was also fortunate to have been able to train with professional triathletes. There, I also participated in a number of triathlon training camps that were led by legendary US triathlon coach Joe Friel. I passionately motivate people of all shapes and sizes to keep moving and pursue a healthy lifestyle. I am very proud of having successfully coached absolute beginners to score 1st in their respective age groups from sprint to Ironman distance and my more experienced athletes frequently enjoy a new PR in run races and triathlons of all distances.

As a mentor for Tri It For Life, I coached a group of ladies of all capabilities to compete in their very first super sprint. I also had the opportunity to coach Team Challenge for three seasons for their participation in the Virginia Wine Country and Las Vegas Strip at Night Half-Marathons!

MY COACHING PHILOSOPHY

My coaching philosophy largely follows the concepts taught by Joe Friel and contains two components:

1. Fitness improves by increasing the stress on the athlete’s body. But, fitness cannot increase indefinitely. The body needs periods of rest for recovery during which some of the gained fitness is lost again. As such, my coaching philosophy is based on the principle of periodization, dividing the season into training blocks of 3-4 weeks. Each 3-4 week block is then assigned a specific purpose and workload that will build on the previous period. Within those periods, I focus on the quality of a workout rather than the quantity (train smarter, not harder). This in turn requires a certain amount of patience on the athletes’ side.
2. The ultimate goal is to have the athlete come into top form for his/her A-race through a proper peaking technique that considers training stress scores and training stress balance. As the athlete gets closer to the date of the A-race (6-8 weeks out), I get more analytical and take a closer look at specific training stresses and how the athlete adapts.
   Further, with regards to training triathletes as opposed to single-sport athletes, I also believe in Joe Friel’s statement that “A triathlon is a bike race with a swim warm-up and a jog to the finish line/run cool-down”. As such, special emphasis is placed on bike training, with less time spent on swimming and running.