Coach Karen Mackin

I have been coaching endurance athletes professionally for more than 25 years, but my roots as a coach go back even further, when I began studying training and mentoring my cycling teammates. My first athlete was a runner who could no longer run. I saw her potential as a cyclist, taught her the sport and how to race, and watched her progress from a beginning cyclist all the way to Category 1. That experience helped set the course for what became my career in coaching.

Since then, I have coached athletes around the world, from those looking to become fitter and stronger or achieve their first meaningful athletic goal to athletes competing at the highest levels of amateur sport. Athletes I have coached have won national championships, qualified for world championships, and qualified for the Ironman world championship in Kona. I have also worked with young athletes in mountain biking, cross-country running, and Nordic skiing, helping them develop skills, confidence, and what I hope becomes a lifelong involvement in sport. Across this wide range of athletes, some of the accomplishments I find most meaningful are helping people discover new possibilities, accomplish things they once thought were beyond their reach, and continue to grow, set new goals, and stay engaged in endurance sports throughout their lives.

My perspective as a coach is also shaped by a lifetime of training, competing, and continually taking on new challenges as an endurance athlete. I began as a runner in high school before finding competitive cycling and eventually racing as a semi-professional cyclist.

Over the years cycling has remained at the center of my interests in endurance sport. I have raced road, mountain bike, gravel, and cyclocross, while also exploring other endurance sports along the way. I spent several years competing seriously in triathlon before my interests eventually shifted back toward cycling and new endurance challenges. Most recently I've developed a particular interest in off-road adventure riding, including leading bikepacking adventures for the Appalachian Mountain Club. I've also combined my love of cycling and Nordic skiing in winter triathlon.

After all these years, I still love being an athlete and taking on new challenges. That lifetime of experience continues to shape my coaching and gives me perspective not only on how athletes improve, but on how training, competition, goals, and the sports we love can evolve over a lifetime.

My coaching philosophy

For me, the most rewarding part of coaching is the connection I develop with my athletes. I want to understand what motivates them, why they train, what they enjoy, and what else is important in their lives. The better I know the person behind the training data, the better I can shape their training to provide the right balance of challenge, achievement, and fun.

I believe every athlete is unique, and their training should reflect their abilities, goals, experience, priorities, and life outside of sport. I use training data extensively and bring an analytical approach from my former career in engineering and software systems, but numbers never tell the whole story; communication and feedback provide the context that allows me to interpret the data and make better coaching decisions.

I also look at training as a whole; a workout doesn't exist in isolation, and neither does cycling. Many cyclists also run, ski, strength train, or pursue other activities they enjoy. I consider how the type, intensity, volume, and placement of those activities affect the overall training plan so they support rather than unintentionally interfere with the athlete's cycling goals.

Ultimately I want athletes to become stronger and more capable while understanding themselves better as athletes. Progress can mean improved performance, accomplishing something once thought out of reach, or simply continuing to find challenge, enjoyment, and meaning in sport throughout life.