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Meet our Contributors
Janda Ricci-Munn
Janda Ricci-Munn
Janda Ricci-Munn runs a sport specific training service and specializes in the athletic preparation of endurance athletes. Over the course of his 10+ year coaching career, Janda has helped hundreds of individuals from a wide variety of sports to attain personal, regional and even national/professional athletic success. Janda possesses the unique combination of over 20 years of “in the trenches” athletic experience and an in-depth understanding of sports science. His innovative use of scientific based testing and training techniques, coupled with his personalized approach to coaching has netted world-class results and notable headlines. Past examples include:Elite cyclist Phil Wong’s three consecutive podium finishes at the Mt. Washington Auto Road Bicycle Hill Climb (2003, 2004, 2005).
Janda Ricci-Munn
- Elite cyclist Phil Wong’s three consecutive podium finishes at the Mt. Washington Auto Road Bicycle Hill Climb (2003, 2004, 2005).
- Sabra Hawke’s U.S. 100 and 200 meter records at the 2007 U.S. Paralympic Track & Field Championships and her subsequent selection to the U.S. Paralympic team
- Multiple age group victories and podium finishes on the Ironman 70.3 circuit and at the Ironman 70.3 World Championship
A number of Janda’s training related articles have been featured in publications such as “City Sports,” “Extreme Triathlon” and most recently, Landice Treadmill’s blog where he serves as their training advice expert. His name is rapidly spreading throughout the U.S. multisport community as clients from as far away as Virginia, Texas and California continue to rack up one outstanding performance after another under his guidance.
As a triathlete, Janda has competed with a high degree of success at the regional, national, and international level (see triathlon highlights below). Although now a full time coach and trainer, Janda continues to pursue personal athletic excellence as an endurance athlete and has been competing professionally as a long course triathlete since 2008. His long term objectives are to record top 10 overall finishes at the 70.3 and IronMan World Championship events before retiring to focus 100% of his efforts upon the expansion of his coaching services.
Born and raised in Gloucester, Massachusetts, and a graduate of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Janda currently resides in his hometown of Gloucester with his wife, Michelle.
Be sure to stay up to date on Janda’s latest personal training & racing experiences by visiting his blog.
EDUCATION & CERTIFICATIONS
B.A., University of Massachusetts at Amherst
National Strength and Conditioning Association
Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist
USA Cycling
Certified Level II/Expert Cycling Coach
Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Department of Education
Licensed Physical Education Instructor, grades 5 – 12
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Dave Smith
Dave Smith
Dave Smith has worked with Janda Ricci-Munn for 3 years now. This past year Dave joined Janda to help him as his assistant triathlon coach. Janda’s Sports Specific Training Services have become one of the most well-known coaching services in the U.S. This is where Dave has come in to help.
Dave is originally from northern Michigan and has been involved in athletics from the early age of 5. He has played pretty much every main stream sport and competed in basketball and track and field at the Division 3 collegiate level. Throughout that time, Dave learned a lot from his own experiences as a student/athlete and from his teachers/coaches along the way. After college, Dave moved out to Virginia Beach with his wife, Rachel, and dove right into triathlon at full speed and hasn’t looked back since. He has proven himself on the local and regional levels and is an up and coming national level long course triathlete. In 2009, Dave was a USAT All-American.
Dave is a middle school Health and Physical Education teacher. He has also spent time as the head coach for both a high school varsity cross country and track and field team. His exercise science based formal education allows Dave to understand how the human body works. That coupled with his own experiences as an athlete and learning from his mentor, JRM, Dave has many of the tools needed to help a lot of people reach their multi-sport goals. Being only 26, Dave has a bright future ahead of him in multi-sport as both an athlete and coach.
Be sure to stay up to date on Dave’s latest personal training & racing experiences by visiting his blog.
Education & Certifications
B.A. in Health and Physical Education, Albion College, Albion, MI
Minor: Earth Science/Geology
Michigan State Teaching Provisional Certification
· K-12 Physical Education
· 7-12 Earth/Space Science
State of Virginia Professional Teaching Certification
· K-12 Health/Physical Education
· 7-12 Earth/Space Science
USAT Level 1 coach
USA Cycling Level 3 coach
Certified in CPR, First Aid and Life guarding
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Thad McLaurin
Thad McLaurin (aka: RunnerDude)
Thad, his wife Mitzi, and their three kids have lived in Greensboro, NC since 1998. He’s come a long way since being “that overweight kid” as a youngster. After Weight Watchers® and a 40-pound weight loss in high school, he discovered running during college and has been passionate about running and fitness ever since. (Over 25 years!) It all started with the ‘84 Great Raleigh Road Race 10K. He wasn’t fast, but he had a blast and was hooked.
A UNC Chapel Hill grad, Thad began his career as a 5th grade teacher before moving into the world of Educational publishing where he worked as a writer, editor, and book development manager for 13 years. Thad combines his love of writing with his love of running and fitness by hosting RunnerDude’s blog. He’s also a featured writer for AmateurEndurance.com and Fitter U Fitness. You can catch Thad weekly on PureFitRadio.com where he’s the NC Endurance State Reporter. Thad is a member of the executive board for GOFAR, a nonprofit organization that prepares youngsters to run their first 5K! Thad’s biggest reward is helping others get hooked on running, fitness, and healthy living.
Credentials and Certifications:
• Personal Trainer and Nutrition Consultant diploma certifications from • NPTI (National Personal Trainer Institute)
• ACSM (American College of Sports Medicine) personal trainer certification
• RRCA Running Coach certification
• USA-Track & Field Level 1 Coaching certification • Red Cross adult CPR/AED and First Aid training
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Lewis Elliot
Lewis Elliot
Lewis Elliot
Lewis Elliot is a professional triathlete living in Scottsdale, Arizona. Lewis competes in more than forty events and year and is the overall winner in many of them. Originally from Billings, Montana, Lewis has two brothers Porter and Blair who also compete in endurance sports.
As a junior cyclist, Lewis earned a spot on the US National Cycling Team and became a permanent resident at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Lewis lived at the OTC for four years winning multiple National Championships as well as placing highly in countless professional cycling events. In 2001, he competed in his first triathlon and was hooked! The overall winner of over 80 triathlons, Lewis also often competes as a Cat 1 cyclist and mountain biker. He also runs road races as a professional runner and hopes to make the 2012 US Olympic Marathon trials.
Currently Lewis also works as a professional triathlon coach and instructor at The Village Health Clubs in the Phoenix Area. He is also a professional fashion/sports model with multiple agencies across the United States keeping him fairly busy in his spare time.
Lewis hopes one day to win the Kona Ironman World Championships triathlon!
More information about Lewis Elliot can be found on his website.
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Lee and Isis Hargrave
The Running Couple
The Running Couple is the husband and wife duo of Lee and Isis Hargrave. Lee is a full-time engineering manager at an aerospace company in Grapevine and Isis is an account coordinator at an advertising/PR firm in Dallas .
Lee and Isis Hargrave
Running has always been a part of their relationship. When they first met, Lee was in training for the 2006 Chicago Marathon. It was while watching this race that Isis decided she wanted to run too! Under Lee’s instruction, Isis has made great strides in achieving her goal. Their trials and tribulations can be found on their blog.
The Running Couple has always been a resource to their friends for running, whether it be what gear they liked or what training programs they recommended. Since both are very active in social media, they thought it would be fun to reach out to the running community to share tips and tricks as well as encourage others to get out and run.
Here’s a question I’ve been wondering about (twitter ID @MyGoodCarma – I’ve been using my Elliptical for about 6 years now – almost every day. Is it true that I may still be subject to repetitive stress injuries from wear and tear over the years? Is there a good way to prevent this? I would prefer to have my own knees when I’m in my 80’s
thx
Hi Carma,
As a general rule, if you’re not experiencing any aches or pains in and around your hip, knee and ankle regions, you’re most likely just fine continuing on with your training program. However… never lose sight of the fact that you should limit the number of high stress training days in your weekly routine to about 3 x per week regardless of which type of aerobic activity you choose to engage in. For instance, if you really love to work out on your elliptical, allocate 2 – 3 sessions per week to aerobic interval or FT training (see our running training tips here on the blog; although they’re geared for runners, the same rules apply to elliptical based training as well) and keep the remaining workout sessions relatively short and easy (i.e. <40 min. total, with HR <80% of max).
If your goal is to attain a high degree of overall physical fitness, I would also recommend that you consult with a local fitness expert/personal trainer who can help you to design a personalized training program that will focus upon both aerobic and muscular development. If you’re not already doing so, think about incorporating resistance training into your workout routine 3 x per week or so. Once again, seek out the services of a qualified personal trainer, as they will help you to create an individualized training program that can include your elliptical sessions as well.
In the end, a successful training program is a well balanced one that provides adequate amounts of stress and recovery and also employs a variety of exercise modalities in order to keep your body balanced, healthy and injury free.
thx for answering my question. My program is definitely lacking in balance; will look into your suggestions….I appreciate it!
I would love to contribute some articles that I’ve written. You can check out my writing on my blog. Thanks!
All the best,
Janice
Janice,
We’d definitely be interested in speaking with you! Send me a sample of any blogs you’ve written on Running. We’re also working on launching another blog site we might be able to use you as a contributor on.
You can email me at melody@launchfish.com.
Thanks!