Matt Hanson

Matt spent his youth watching his father, an accomplished marathoner and triathlete, compete during triathlons infancy in the 1980's. Following his fathers example, Matt started running at a young age and continued his athletic pursuits through high school where he earned 5 varsity letters. Matt's younger sister became similarly involved in endurance sports and received a full swimming scholarship to a Division 1 school and is currently training for her first marathon under Matt's guidance.

Although Matt participated in his first triathlon in Reston Virginia at the age of 7, it wasn't until Matt witnessed his dad finish his first of three Ironmans at the age of 54 that he caught multi sport fever. After spectating the event Matt was so inspired that very next day he signed up for an Ironman (and later that afternoon thought to buy some goggles and began looking for a bicycle). Matt and his father both competed in and finished that race the following season; and have done 2 Ironman races together since.

Since completing his first triathlon, Matt's racing career has literally led him around the world, racing both domestically and abroad. His finish time at his first Ironman earned him a qualifying spot for the National Long Course Championships, where he earned a spot to the ITU World Long Distance Triathlon Championships. From east coast to west, from Mexico to Australia, Matt has raced every distance of triathlon. In 2008, he set a new Olympic Distance PR of 1:57:39, and a new Half Ironman Distance PR of 4:23:27.

Matt believes the formula for athletic success is simple- apply the right type and the amount of training stress, then allow the body enough space to recover and realize the performance gain. To that regard, Matt believes that one of the most important roles of a coach is to 'trim the fat' from the training plan, and to make each training session accomplish a specific objective. Matt believes in taking a balanced approach to multi sport, as our participation in the sport is just one aspect of our amazingly complex and busy lives, and getting the most out of every training session is essential to building fitness.