Coaching

A couple of posts ago I mentioned that my coach and I scrambled to make alternate race schedules as it appeared my start spots at the first World Championship Series races of 2010 were in jeopardy. Since that post I received a few questions about my coaching situation and I realized I have failed to mention that I made a coaching change after last season. My coach is now Bobby McGee out of Boulder, CO. For those who don’t know Bobby he is almost entirely a running coach and usually only works with triathletes to improve their running skills. Most notably he works with the USAT National Teams, USAT coaching clinics, as well as the ITU Sport Development program. I first met him at a USAT development camp in Chula Vista, California in 2007 and worked with him sporadically at various USAT camps since then. Although he is primarily a running coach he does have extensive knowledge of triathlon through his experiences with USAT and the ITU. He is definitely the most brilliant coach I know and I’m excited to work with him full time. The system we have set up for coaching is a bit more complicated than I make it sound here but I will save those details for another post.

Bobby (left) working with USAT athletes Matt Chrabot, Sarah Haskins, Mark Fretta and Sarah Groff in Colorado Springs.

That being said I definitely have to thank the person who got me this far. Jennifer Hutchison ‘discovered’ me back in 2006 at a Junior Elite Development race in St. Leo, Florida, and even though she thought I was a girl while I was racing (she had no idea who I was and apparently my Speedo Fast Skin wasn’t very manly looking), she took a chance on coaching me. She basically took me from nothing (and I mean nothing) and turned me into a Collegiate National Champion and a world class triathlete. She was my coach, my nutritionist, my agent, and my number three supporter (behind my parents and her cat Pea the Devon Rex). What’s more, she was and is a great friend and I can’t thank her enough for all she did for me in my athletic career and my life. So if you’re reading this Jennifer, thanks and I’ll see you at St. Anthony’s!

Jennifer and me after St. Anthony’s last year.