Nikhil Kapur, Ironman Athlete"After setting my mind on competing for the IM, I knew that the next task was to get myself an experienced coach. I had been running for a number of years but a triathlon was new to me. I spoke to a few coaches before I chatted up with Nate; and after quizzing him on some relevant & irrelevant questions (irrelevant being the ones related to setting the screen on my new Garmin 910), I decided to take the plunge by signing up with him for a month. It was a gamble because I live in India and was going to try 'online coaching' for the first time. Frankly, I didn’t think it would continue after the first month. Right at the start Nate and I decided that I will compete for a full IM in around 12 months and also would do a half IM along the way.
I found the first month very exciting. I was doing all 3 sports for the first time in a structured manner and since the emphasis was on improving aerobic capacity and recovery, I was happy to realize that I don’t need to kill myself everyday to be able to race an IM. I successfully completed the 70.3 in Auckland and now am feeling strong for the Full IM in July at Zurich. It's been 11 months since I signed up with Nate and I love his program! (NOTE: Nikhil went on to complete the Zurich IM in July 2014). Over the past 1 year that I have worked with Nate, I realized that Nate is a 360° coach due to his deep understanding of the body, its energy systems, injury management to name a few. And his brilliance lies in his knack to structure a program that leaves you refreshed even after 15-20 hours of working out every week! Nate also introduced me to superior forms of nutrition for better workout results and recovery. Early on in the training, I was showing signs of plantar fasciitis and Nate helped me manage and overcome the discomfort before it turned into injury. As an online coach, Nate is super prompt with his communication. He has also always been available on the phone if I ever needed to chat up – no easy feat since I am in India! But what makes the online coaching click so well with me is that due to his long professional experience and knowledge, he is very intuitive and he diagnoses my issues very accurately and hence his advise goes a long way. I look forward to working with him on many more IMs!!" |