Reviews
I was originally a PT patient of Joanne. She helped me turn the corner with my shoulder injury at a time when I was just trying to heal, not thinking about endurance sports at all. I wanted to be able to run someday, but ankle pain made it feel unrealistic, even walking hurt. Up until this point, I had never been a runner and had zero endurance background. While we were focused on my shoulder, she gave me tips for my feet and ankles, planting seeds I didn’t fully understand yet.
I eventually moved away from the DMV and built some momentum on my own, but I knew I needed structure and a plan. That’s when I reached out to Joanne and told her I wanted to run a 50-mile race. She said, “Cool, it doesn’t scare me. Does it scare you?” I knew that things were about to get serious, but I also knew she would put me on the right path based on her collegiate and Ironman experiences.
Starting was scary. I was pushed into distances, times, paces (power targets) that I had never done before. We made quick progress though, building my fitness to a level I had never reached in my life at 30 years old. In a few short months of training, I was clipping 6-minute miles consistently and running 40+ miles per week. All of that training led me to run my first marathon in 3 hours and change in brutal conditions. I went into the race extremely confident because we had put in the work, and I trusted both my training and Joanne’s masterplan for me. I feel confident in my build for the 50, and I’m looking forward to a great race in May.
Working with Joanne has been one of the most positive experiences in my life. As endurance athletes, so much of what we do comes down to us (the athlete) and she understands that. She won’t hold your hand, but she will give you the tools to be as successful as possible. She guides you, teaches you, and challenges you to learn about endurance sport, the body, the mind, and yourself.
I never thought I would be in the position I’m in today. Working with Joanne has made me a faster, stronger, smarter athlete. And outside of sport I feel more confident, disciplined, and overall happier. This journey has been so much fun, and I’m excited to keep exploring how far I can push myself with Joanne guiding me.
-JG
I’ve been working with Joanne for close to 8 months now…it feels like so much longer than that. I can talk about how she took me from total laughably rookie road cyclist, to successfully completing my first medio fondo with 6k’ elevation 4 months later. I can talk about how her targeted training helped my cycling FTP increase by 15 watts. I can talk about how she took my 10 min mile average running pace and dropped it to ~9:20 min average pace. I can talk about how I can now clock a mile in 8:21 minutes and how she helped me shave 10 minutes off BOTH my half marathon and 10k times. But instead, I want to talk about how Joanne unknowingly helped fix me
Last year was the darkest year of my 46 years on this earth. They say some people take up endurance sports as part of their midlife crisis, and I am certainly the poster child for that: I went from diehard strength athlete to setting (seemingly, at the time) insane competitive goals in both cycling and running that I expected to complete within less than a year's time. While training on my own, I discovered that my biggest struggle was that I was redlining myself in every workout, impeding progress in both sports. Constantly feeling like a failure in my training was not helping my mental state whatsoever. I finally admitted to myself that if I really wanted to achieve these goals, I needed guidance
That’s when I found Joanne. I was drawn to her because she is a lifelong elite endurance athlete herself, a doctor in physical therapy, and I had heard about her beautifully balanced multi-sport programming from a close friend
Joanne indeed provided beautifully balanced multi-sport programming: she listened to my goals, explained why she felt they were doable, and laid out a plan that I simply had to follow. She initially reined me in to more reasonable pacing, especially for running, but it was exactly what I needed: because I wasn't exhausted all the time, I gradually started making progress...not just in one, but BOTH sports. In fact, the improvements in one sport helped me improve in the other sport. After struggling so much, my training now felt magically effortless. Unbeknownst to Joanne, her support, her training and my progress through her training, helped pave the way for me to find the inner strength to fix myself
Joanne doesn't just provide the training: she sees the athlete as an individual, meets them where they're at in their journey, and provides detailed targeted coaching that helps that athlete achieve their goals in a way that makes them feel seen, heard and supported. She is kind, empathetic, and cares deeply about her athletes. For me, Joanne didn't just salvage a year that would have otherwise been terrible without her. In a way, she saved me as an athlete and as a human being by showing me what I am capable of
-NA
I have worked with Joanne for over three years now and I am so proud of what we have achieved together. She’s coached me back from injury; she’s coached me to PRs. I am learning so much about the mental aspects of endurance sports, how to train for them, and recovery as I continue to train with Joanne. For me, she has been critical to my near term athletic goals as well as laying the foundation for my long term wellbeing
-LM
I’ve worked with Joanne for just about a year! She has been a fantastic coach and educator during that time. While I had some races under my belt prior to working with her, she quickly helped me across all facets of the sport: setup, fit, nutrition, form, and training.
She is keen to understand your schedule and what works best for you. She’ll also tailor a weekly/monthly plan just for you - to ensure you’re ready for race day.
Joanne helped increase my running cadence from sub 150 to 160+ with specific drills. In the pool, her workouts made me more comfortable and stronger. Finally, Joanne helped make a connection to a local bike store to dial in my bike fitting.
She gave my triathlon toolkit an impressive facelift in just 12 months! Her monthly phone calls were a great time to catch up and reset. It was a forum for us both to share what did/didn’t go well, areas to work on, and general tri-focused questions.
Joanne has helped to make me stronger and faster! With her help, I’ve continued to hit new PRs. I’ve grown immensely in this sport through her guidance and support.
-RL
Joanne takes an individual approach to each athlete. She took my health, personal life, and work commitments into consideration when developing my schedule. When I started with Aspire, I couldn't jog a half-mile and had asthma caused by long COVID. In just six months with Joanne, I was able to finish an Olympic distance triathlon (and even placed!) I couldn't recommend her enough!
— JR
I have had the profound privilege of working with Joanne. I am by no means an elite athlete, but had the goal of riding long, with a specific event in mind. I also had an exceptionally demanding schedule between work and life events. Joanne listened and designed my training, making it incredibly intentional, targeted and effective. She approaches her job with phenomenal passion and professionalism, but most importantly, she has an ability to understand an individual beyond their role as an athlete and see them as a human. She is also an encyclopedic wealth of information on training and racing, which is bolstered further by her own personal experiences. Being an elite athlete herself, she has a level of empathy and understanding that most do not. This contributed to her ability to listen carefully and understand wholeheartedly, making it extremely easy to communicate with about anything. Further, she analyzed every workout thoroughly and put an immense amount of care on how I felt and scaled workouts based on progress, injury, sickness and so forth. She showed wonderful support when she rode with me for a part of a 10-hr solo effort. She stopped by in the morning and again in the afternoon to make sure I was still pedalling and texted me throughout the day to offer kind words of wisdom and encouragement. I can say unequivocally that I had not only found a coach, but a friend who listened deeply to my needs as an athlete
-MA
I am so thankful I found Joanne! Joanne was supportive and flexible throughout my whole training cycle, checking in and adjusting my schedule to fit into life's various demands. She provided the perfect balance of pushing me outside my comfort zone while building my confidence, celebrating small wins, and sharing helpful advice throughout the process. After years of not making it to starting lines due to injuries, she set me up for the healthiest training cycle I've had since I started endurance sports over 10 years ago. It's clear she truly cares about her clients and is not only knowledgeable, but passionate about her work. I have never felt so prepared going into race day, and am so excited to see what the future holds with her guidance!
— LT
“Joanne is an amazing and super helpful coach. She coached me for about 4 months for my first Ironman 70.3 I did in Atlantic City. Having little triathlon experience myself, who only ran running races (half marathons mostly) and being a middle aged man, I knew I needed a coach to help me get through the swim and bike parts especially.
Joanne gave me daily workouts over TrainingPeaks and I requested to have 3 in-person sessions for each of the 3 sports for form and equipment guidance. Those sessions especially were helpful since she was very knowledgeable about each of the sports and could pinpoint where and why I was having pain in my body due to poor form. I had knee pain from running and it was due to heel striking and low running cadence. With Joanne's guidance I felt immediate improvement with my knee pain.
With the workouts themselves, I slowly ramped up the workouts with Joanne's guidance and could definitely feel improvement and confidence I could do the whole 70.3 Ironman race as I progressed. I touch based with Joanne twice a week on my workouts to see how I was doing. She gave great feedback on each of the sports on pacing, nutrition, pain mediation, flexibility/strength training.
Whether you are someone with triathlon experience or not, or any age, Joanne is very professional, knowledgeable, and a pleasure to work with. I certainly recommend her for your triathlon coaching needs!”