Life away from full-time training and racing has been nothing less than: FULL TIME!   It’s strange, my life used to consist of training and race and travel.  Now, after only one full season away from the bike, I train and race VERY infrequently and I travel on occasion. The transition has been interesting. Changing gears is not as easy as just reaching down and hitting the lever!

I knew going into my final year of racing that I most likely would be retiring at the end of the season and opening a training center for endurance athletes in Seattle. I had been coaching for nearly 9 years at that point and had also been working as group exercise instructor and a private strength and conditioning coach in NYC. Based on that information, I figured I could simply open up a facility and call it a day. Ignorance is BLISS!  Had I known then what I know now, I may have continued with racing. Opening a business is WAY harder than I anticipated! But the effort has been worthwhile and the business is going well and I am getting to work with all levels of endurance athletes with coaching, training, strength and conditioning, physiology testing and bike fitting which is exactly what we had hoped to accomplish.

My business partner, Dr. Russell Cree DPT, CSCS and I have just opened up our second training facility for endurance athletes in the Fremont district of Seattle and have added a professional triathlon coach, Teresa Nelson, to our staff as well as 2 associate cycling coaches - Mike Sayers of team BMC, who has 13 years of professional racing and training experience and Iona Wynter-Parks, who currently races with the Colavita Cooking Light women’s Pro cycling team. Our facilities feature top of the line training and testing equipment and our athletes range from top pros to highly motivated amateurs. 

This winter we are offering our first cycling and triathlon training camps in sunny Tucson, AZ, where I have been logging winter miles for over a decade.   The camps will be hosted by the Cycling House and run by Dr. Cree and myself. If you have ever wondered what it would be like to attend a professional cycling camp, our camps are an opportunity for you to have that experience.  You can get details about the camps at our website: www.herriottsportsperformance.com

I certainly miss the excitement of preparing for the big races and spending my summers traveling around the country with my teammates, but owning a company that prepares athletes in every way for the rigors of endurance athletics - be it local, national or international - keeps me in the game and provides me the opportunity to CONTINUE to live the dream!   Best of luck in your 08’ season and I hope to see you at camp!

Best,
TH