Playtri Coach Jim

Just 4 more Saturdays left in the Open Water Swim season. Come on out and join us at 7:30 am for coached workouts and lifeguard support.

Marlie started working with me as a complete beginner in the pool and then walked into her first Ironman 70.3 10 months later ready — swim technique dialed in, bike power up, and a training plan built around HER life, not the other way around. 🏊‍♀️🚴‍♀️🏃‍♀️

That's the goal every time: sustainable progress, personalized to you, with a team in your corner the whole way.

Swipe through to hear it in her words 👉

Ready to tackle big goals? Your first 70.3? A PR? 70.3 Worlds Qualification? Kona? Send me a DM — let's talk.

Most age-group triathletes don't lose their Worlds slot on race day fitness. They lose it in the swim scrum, the corner they braked through, the T1 they fumbled. Skill work is the cheapest speed left on the table — and almost nobody's training it.

Which one's yours: swim starts, cornering, transitions, or something else?

Congrats to Andrew, Tim, Tahwana, and some Team Playtri Elite athletes on completing Hotter'n Hell 100 on Saturday!

The ride this year definitely lived up to its name!

Good luck to Andrew, Tim, and Tahwana, and Team Playtri Elite athletes taking on Hotter'n Hell tomorrow!

Owen didn't need more training. He needed the right training.

Two years coaching Owen — full-time student, dual-sport athlete (basketball and triathlon). No unlimited hours. Just a life the plan had to fit around.

We stopped asking "am I training enough?" and started asking "is this training specific to my goals and my life?" That shift is the whole story.

Multiple 1st place finishes at National level paratri races. 2nd at Paratri Nationals. Back-to-back USAT Paratri Nationals Qualifier Series titles. 6th at his first international race, in Chile.

Generic plans make generic athletes. Owen isn't generic.

Big goals don't require a small life. They require a coach who understands both.

DM "COACH" and let's talk.

Congrats to on completing her first 70.3 this weekend at Leipzig!

Super proud to be your coach!

Tim came to me with a full-time career, a growing family, and big triathlon goals. Eighteen months later, he's got a 20-minute 70.3 PR drop, a near-hour improvement at IRONMAN 70.3 Waco, age-group podiums, fresh 5K/10K PRs, and a finished ÖTILLÖ SwimRun to show for it.

But the stats aren't the whole story.

Tim's own words: "My success with Coach Jim stems from his ability to fit training around my real life."

That's the job. Not just writing workouts — understanding your work schedule, your family's needs, and the season of life you're actually in right now. A new baby changes your training. A demanding sprint at work changes your training.

As a coach/athlete with a family, I get it. So I build around that, not against it.

If you're an age-grouper with real-life constraints and real goals, this is what coaching should look like.

DM "COACH" to set up a time to chat about training options with me at Playtri.

Heat doesn't play fair in paratriathlon. 🥵

New research on competitive paratriathlon in hot conditions found the majority of athletes racing at 91°F exceeded 103°F core temperature — and how hard the heat hits depends heavily on classification.

Visually impaired athletes ran hotter than wheelchair athletes. Spinal cord injury can disrupt the body's own sweating and blood-flow cooling response. Even the ability to self-pace or hydrate to manage heat can be impairment-dependent.

The takeaway: heat prep for paratriathlon isn't one template. It's classification-specific — and that starts with knowing exactly how your body handles heat stress before race day, not during it.

Tag a training partner who needs to see this before their next hot race.



Source: Post-Exercise Recovery in Paralympic Athletes: A Narrative Review (Applied Sciences, March 2026), citing paratriathlon heat-strain data by impairment classification.

Congrats to Michael Oatman on completing his first 70.3 this weekend at .3 Northern California!

Enjoy the week of unstructured training, Michael. Waco is coming up soon!