Open Mic Friday: Meet Coach Kelly

This week’s guest is Kelly Wissolik.  Kelly holds several professional coaching designations and owns and operates Energy Fitness Coaching in Chicago.  Friends at Runners' Lounge can get to know her better through "Ask Coach Kelly" a special forum space where she is on hand to answer your training questions.  Kelly is a highly-successful athlete and coach and we are grateful she is available to share her knowledge, expertise, and motivation. 

Welcome Coach Kelly!

Tell us how you began your athletic career

I began running for fitness to improve my team sports of volleyball, basketball and softball in high school. My senior year in high school I started running more consistently for fitness and fell in love with the freedom to run outside, smell the fresh, clean country air and think about all I wanted to do and achieve. I continued running for fitness along with teaching group exercise classes, spinning and Pilates through college. After school I moved to Chicago, continued teaching and running and met my husband Rob who was a competitive Ironman Triathlete. My love for running grew because of Rob. I began training for races and learned all I could about running and triathlon.  I soon took the Ironman plunge and have never looked back.

So you’re making a full-time career developing endurance athletes.  What are some of the areas you focus on?

I have been working with marathoners, triathletes Spin, Pilates and aerobics class members for over a decade. Professionally I focus on coaching marathon runners and  triathletes.  Personally I focus on long course triathlon racing. I am an Elite Ironman Triathlete qualifying for The World Championships in Hawaii in 2005 and 2007 along with the 70.3 World Championships in 2007.

Coaching others, supporting your husband’s goals, and competing yourself.  How do you do it all?

I love endurance training, pushing my body and meeting other endurance athletes who share similar passions and ideals.  I hope to continue to spread my knowledge and passion for health, fitness and wellness to all those I meet!

For motivation and support—we coaches need help too—I have created several fitness DVDs and more are on their way. I believe in finding quality, effective and efficient workouts for my athletes to help them stay fit and healthy in their busy everyday life.

Most of us at Runners' Lounge are pretty ordinary runners.  If we have questions, how do we know if it's too fundamental since you and those you work with are pretty advanced athletes.  Any reason to worry you're out of our league with running?

Not at all.  I created Energy Fitness Coaching to help all levels of athletes reach their fitness goals. I am dedicated to three major goals:

• To help athletes and fitness enthusiast reach their utmost potential
• To welcome new athletes into a healthy lifestyle of training and racing
• To customize and personalize training to improve health and fitness while balancing life

My energy, passion and commitment is contagious and motivating. As Coach Kelly, I am a resource for information, experience and inspiration. I hope to help you!

What are some types of questions we might ask?

Anyone can ask me anything.  I enjoy helping athletes with their training, including running of course, but also strength, flexibility, nutrition, injuries, motivation, cross training, goal setting, racing, and basically anything to help them be successful.

What are you current athletic goals?

I hope to have a successful 2008 Ironman Season personally and professionally. I will be racing with several of my athletes all over the country and in Canada and I’m looking forward to the fun and excitement of seeing my athletes improve. After the World Championships in Hawaii this October, I will shift gears a bit and focus on beginning our family.  After our first child I would like to focus on marathon running, do the Boston Marathon and ½ Iron distance races.

Runners’ Lounge is excited and grateful to have you share your knowledge and expertise in the new “Ask Coaching Kelly” section.  We're so pleased the Runners' Lounge community members can look to you to get their questions answered and find motivation.   We are looking forward to learning from you!

Comments

[Viv]

Another great interview. Thanks guys for introducing us to Coach Kelly.