This week, I am bringing a new element into the mix for the newsletter. I want to highlight each athlete that I am currently coaching with Elite Edge Coaching, my business. You can find out more about what I can offer here.
Everyone is roughly halfway through the 2024 campaign and all have at least one race in the bag. The part that motivates me the most as a coach is the unique goals for each member of the “team”.
John Wehrer—Mountain Biking
John is a fellow physical therapist from Spokane, Washington. His main goal for the year is a highly competitive 50 mile MTB race in September. The focus in training for John all year has been to rely on a Basic Week to get him to his goals. Life stress often creeps into the week for him, but a flexible yet consistent structure to the week has led to some compounding gains. We found this out with his 25 mile race at the end of April where he took 4th place in the open division. The highlight of the race was that he was hunting opponents down in the final hour, indicating his all-day fitness is strong.
What has been working? I already mentioned the stress management being a helpful tool for performance. John has also been sure to keep committed to 2 weekly strength training sessions that have conferred gains in “feeling powerful”.
It is also remarkable how consistent application of intensity in training leads to not only gains in hard effort performance but also in general endurance. John held 175bpm for nearly 2.5 hours at the April race. That does not happen without doing some seriously hard work!
Adam Kurland—Running
Adam is one of the most curious athletes I have ever met. He always wants to know more about the why behind training, recovery, technique, etc. This curiosity has led to his recent success and improvements in running. I published a case study on Adam earlier in the year, and since that report, he has gone on to race both a 10K and a half marathon (his first).
He posted a speedy 10K PR of 43:27 in March. The weather conditions that day were far from ideal, but consistent training pays off in those scenarios. 6 weeks later, and after a bit of half-marathon-specific work, he threw down a 1:44 half-marathon. The course had some hills which is a feature unavailable to him in his normal training environment. There were also some nutritional deficits brought to light that were determined to be a performance limitation. Going forward, there are going to be some more hills in normal training as he focuses on some shorter distances for the rest of 2024.
Ryan Haunfelder—Running
Ryan came to me late last year motivated to avenge a fall marathon performance where he knew he had more in him. We immediately put down a marathon on the calendar for late 2024, but also some benchmark races to track progress.
He came out swinging in February, blasting a 37:39 10K which was nearly his 5K PR two times in a row.
Following this race, he suffered a few setbacks. He was dealing with some vascular issues in his leg as well as two bouts of illness. Although frustrating, I am quite proud of him for being patient.
He had to delay a spring half marathon two times before getting a chance on May 25th; nearly 6 weeks later than he had hoped to be racing. The wait was worth it. He ran 1:29:44 on the day which was under his goal of 1:30. He’ll tell you that there is a lot more potential there for a faster time and I agree.
Watch this space because I am confident I will be reporting on some big performances for the rest of the year for Ryan.
Tristan Sumpter—Running + triathlon
Tristan continues to impress with his versatility in running. He started the year focused on running a fast mile which you can read about here. I consider it essential for an athlete to have a block of training focused on running very fast as it complements the other areas.
Tristan’s training is unique in that he relies on swim, bike, and run to get the job done. This strategy came in handy when he reported some Achilles soreness in February that would not go away following a skiing trip. He got on a progressive rehab program and was able to swim and bike a fair bit during this time. Slowly, running was brought back into the picture, and eventually, workouts returned.
The best part? He found that the time away from running was not as long as it felt and the fitness losses were minimal.
This was also an excellent experience for me as a physical therapist because I eventually want to be guiding athletes through a return to sport but also advise the training that goes into that.
In mid-May, he cashed out on some of the hard work from the spring with a 15:42 5K PR. This was a huge result that boosted his confidence. He is going to give a triathlon a proper go this summer before buckling down for a strong build into a few fall half-marathons.
Carson Maggio—Running + triathlon
Going from seeing running as punishment to enjoying track workouts in only 2 years is a major shift in mindset and one that Carson has made. Our coach-athlete relationship started with some general guidance on doing “cardio” to support his weight-lifting goals. This guidance turned into full-time coaching and an itch to jump into triathlon.
This year, the focus has been on developing his running so that he can deliver a complete race with a sprint and Olympic distance on the horizon this year. He posted some promising results in a sprint tri last year.
Under his belt this year already is a 39 minute 10K debut and a 18:30 5K. These are landmark results given where he started with running just a year ago.
Also of note: Carson performs nearly all of his bike training on a standard spin bike, much like what you may see at your local gym. Add in a heart rate monitor and sometimes that is all you need to improve. He is slowly making some equipment upgrades as he gets more serious in the sport, including a recent bike purchase.
Derek Werchowski—Triathlon
After the first 12 weeks of working together, Derek told me that embarking on this process was helping him mentally more than anything. This was music to my ears. At Elite Edge, we are all about building people up athletically but also as humans.
He is no stranger to endurance sports, having done a few half-marathons and half-iron distance races, but the 2024 campaign has been different for him in more ways than one.
His ultimate goal is Ironman Wisconsin later this year and he has yet to race a triathlon in 2024. However, we have some encouraging training data that indicates he is handling progressions in training volume with the desired adaptations. This includes wholesale improvements in swimming which was initially an area of difficulty. We are ironing out the swim well in advance so that as the Ironman build hits its peak, he is not wrestling with learning to swim better at the same time.
For racing, he sported a huge 21:49 PR in a 5K earlier this year. The true definition of being able to go long and go fast!
Bret Knappenberger—Triathlon
Bret is brand new to endurance sports of any kind. He has a history of lifting weights for exercise, but recently got the itch to race a sprint triathlon. The biggest learning curve so far has been understanding that you do not have to push your limits every day. Some of the heart rate data has shown him that even his perceived easy days are quite taxing.
Nonetheless, he has improved in his ability to delineate hard vs easy and is slowly building running and swimming confidence. He jumped in a local 5K in May, posting a 28:22 which set a benchmark for us to work from the rest of the year.
Bret has been out on the road for a few weeks now on his new bike and confidence is building in that realm as well. Triathlon can be like drinking from a firehose in the beginning and I am proud of the way Bret has handled the process so far.
The Elite Edge roster continues to expand. My goal is to educate and empower those that I work with. If this sounds like something you are interested in, head over to eliteedgecoached.com for more.