Talking with the Chief Evangelist of TrainingPeaks * Simon Ward and Dirk Friel

My guest today is the Chief Evangelist and co-founder of TrainingPeaks, Dirk Friel.

TrainingPeaks was formed in 2002 and is the world’s leading online training log.  It allows you to plan and record your workouts, map your routes, upload data from a training watch, heart-rate monitor, or GPS, and more.  From that point, if you choose, you can analyse the data and use that to inform future training plans.  As a coach I have been using TrainingPeaks for over 10 years now and while there are other options, I find this one to be the most comprehensive.

You may recognise the surname Friel and that's because Dirk is the son of legendary triathlon coach, Joe Friel.  As you might imagine, Dirk grew up in a very active household and from an early age found himself immersed in the sport of cycling. In his late teens he had enough talent to take a risk and try his luck in that hotbed of Northern European cycling, Belgium. This was at a time when there were very few US cyclists in Europe. The first US cycling team, 7 Eleven, had debuted a few years before and riders like Andy Hampsten and Greg Lemond were starting to make a name for themselves. Dirk eventually managed to get himself a contract with a local team and eventually a pro contract after missing out on selection for the 1992 Olympics. 10 years later, after racing pro in the growing US domestic programme, he retired and shortly after co-founded TrainingPeaks. Dirk now resides in Boulder, Colorado with his wife and daughter, and aside from his work at TrainingPeaks he pursues his passion for ski mountaineering (Ski-Mo).

As a Coach Education ambassador for TrainingPeaks, chatting with Dirk was a bit like interviewing your boss but it certainly didn't feel like that. Please enjoy listening in as we chat about:

• How does a teenage cyclist from the US find himself riding with a local team in Belgium?
• Learning to race, the hard way
• Riding with Sean Kelly and beating Bobby Julich (3rd TdF, 1998) in the State Championship
• Living the dream as a pro cyclist: (TIP – it’s not that glamorous)
• How does an ex pro-cyclist keep fit in ‘retirement’?
• The life of an entrepreneur and the goal of trying to 'replace yourself’
• Artificial Intelligence and the future of TrainingPeaks
• Responding to COVID19 - vulnerability & team building
• Endurance Coaching Summit - pivoting to a virtual summit

The Endurance Coaching Summit  was originally scheduled to take place in London on Nov 18-20. Due to COVID19 restrictions this event is now a FREE conference for 2020. There are some fantastic speakers - Stephen Seiler, Gwen Jorgenson, and Stacy Sims to name but a few (see more of the speakers HERE)

To sign up for this year’s conference, please click HERE

We've teamed up with charitable partners around the world to help give back to the endurance community during this time of need. With all registration costs being waived for the 2020 Summit, we hope you will consider supporting one of these great organizations below. For every donation received, TrainingPeaks will match dollar-for-dollar up to $20,000!

To make a donation, please CLICK HERE (Simon’s note…The summit would normally cost over £200 to attend plus your travel and accommodation costs. You are saving a ton of money and getting a whole lot for FREE. How about putting just £5 of that saving to good use by making a donation?  I’ve already committed my donation!!

To follow Dirk the best place is Instagram 

Below are links to some of the subjects that we covered in the chat

If you don't already have a TrainingPeaks account sign up HERE for a FREE basic account. 

Dirk mentioned a Ski-Mo challenge that he completed Haute Route - Chamonix to Zermatt. Read more about that HERE

Three books Dirk mentioned

The Happiness Advantage - Shawn Achor - The seven principles of positive psychology that fuel success and performance at work

Grit - Angela Duckworth - The power of passion and perseverance

Peak - Anders Ericsson - secrets from the new science of expertise

Dirk’s favourite wine - J. Lohr - Cabernet Sauvignon

To find out more about Simon’s SWAT programme, please click HERE 

Visit Simon's website for more information about his coaching programmes

Links to all of Simon's social media channels can be found here

For any questions please email Beth@TheTriathlonCoach.com