Hi There

My name is Morgan, and I am a youth and junior elite coach at the Playtri Performance Center in Dallas, TX.

Six months ago I asked my coach if he thought I might be able to compete in a draft-legal triathlon in 2013 - his response:  "It can't hurt to try!"  (Lies, by the way, I've never been so sore).  Well, after two months of incredibly hard work (and a lot of time on the Vasa), I've been accepted into the East Coast Triathlon Festival Women's Elite Development Race on May 5th, 2013 - which means I've got about four months left to finish prepping for the toughest short course race of my life.  Oh, and by the way - I'll be the oldest one there by about three years.

So I'm very, very excited - and just a little bit terrified.

Why go elite?  Well, if you look to the right here you'll see a photo of my USAT High Performance Team, Team Playtri Elite.  These boys and girls (and their parents) have trusted me to help them reach their goals for the sport, and while 2012 was a fantastic first year for our team, as a coach I always have to be looking for new ways to connect and communicate with my athletes.  What better way to be able to effectively walk them through the complexities of an elite short course race than by experiencing one (or hopefully more) myself? So, I'm going for it, and come May we'll see if all the hard work was worth it.

You can follow my journey here - I have a feeling there will be some really great days, and some really rough ones.  Probably a lot of bizarre exercise and nutrition experiments, too, as I attempt to figure out how to make the most progress in the least amount of time possible.  Today I'm doing Vo2 max+ power intervals on the bike (W23, for all of you Playtri-ers), then hitting the pool for the fourth day in a row.  After my weights/swim intervals yesterday, we'll see how cooperative my lats are feeling when I hit the water.

I should be done just in time to start my afternoon/evening youth coaching sessions, beginning with a new athlete fitness assessment.  Is it possible for an amateur athlete with no elite background to own a small business AND make the switch to elite racing?  We're about to find out...