Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Tom Regal. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Tom, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

I’ve always liked leading people and helping them accomplish tasks and goals that seem insurmountable. That’s what initially drew me to the sport of triathlon – how do you swim, then bike, then run varying distances one right after the other? It’s a process flow that requires a calm mind and discipline. I had wholly embraced the triathlon lifestyle of healthy eating, dedicated training and even co-captained a corporate team that grew to 300 members. Weekends were spent teaching new athletes the ins and outs of the sport and preparing them for a yearly race. I got my USA Triathlon and US Masters swim coaching certifications during this time so that I could be a better coach and also have a great support system for continual learning.

So several years later I find myself at a corporate job that wasn’t a great fit. The company was sold to a private equity firm shortly after I was hired and the direction of things changed. It was at this point that I knew I needed to focus on something where I was making a difference in people’s lives and engage with people who felt the same. As a certified tri coach, could I build a business around that? Could I make a leap into the health and wellness industry where I had no contacts or business history? I had no idea if this could succeed but I had to pivot and get to a better space that I’m more passionate about.

There are a lot of triathlon coaches out in the world and it is hard to stand out. What else could I provide that would broaden my service offerings? I’m not a bike mechanic but I do love the biomechanics of all three sports, and especially the bike. Positioning you on a bicycle so that you get the most of the mechanical advantage and deliver the highest power output is a fun challenge. This opened up a larger potential client base as well – all cyclists, not just triathletes. By fine tuning my bike fitting skills and acquiring top level motion capture and dynamic fit systems, I jumped in with both feet.

Tom, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

It all started for me back when I was in my early 30’s. I was working a job that had long hours, sitting and eating lots of sugary foods to keep my energy up. I found myself not feeling good, exhausted and overweight. That began my 15+ year journey of getting fit and the sport of Triathlon was the key.

As a USA Triathlon and US Masters Swim Certified coach, I work with athletes of all levels and abilities. I specialize in Triathlon but coach the individual swim, bike, run sports as well and offer monthly customized training plans, off season training plans and individual coached sessions. Fundamental movement and technique are very important, especially in swimming – body position is everything! I really enjoy getting people to overcome their fears in the water and my individual coached swim sessions (pool and open water) have become quite popular. As athletes mature in their careers they aim at loftier goals, all while balancing lives outside of sport and trying to avoid injury. I have a balanced approach – no shouting, no guilt – just a reality based structure.

As a coach I know that the athlete-coach dynamic is critical to your success. You need to find the coach who’s methods and mission align with yours. It is important that you make sure find the right coach for you.

I am also an Independent Bike Fitter. I don’t sell any bikes, so I’m not going to steer you one way or another when it comes to bike brands. My purpose is to get you in the most comfortable and efficient position on a bicycle – whether it is a Beach Cruiser, Mountain, Road, Gravel, Cyclocross or Triathlon. I want to help you find the joy in an active lifestyle and riding a bike.

One of the Bike Fit services that I offer is done as a Pre-Purchase Fit. Utilizing a Purely Custom Dynamic Fit Bike, along with Velogicfit motion capture software, I work with you to find your optimum body position for whatever type of riding you will be doing. Then by using those measurements we search through and find the correct size, type and brand of bike for you. Armed with this info you can then begin your shopping without worrying that you will be spending a lot of money and ending up with the wrong size bike.

Another part of my brand is the Athletes in Motion Podcast that I co-host. We have engaging conversations with everyday folks to professional athletes. You can listen on our YouTube channel or anywhere you get your audio podcasts.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

My style has never been to promote my self (personal race results, training sessions) to gain clients. I’m much more of a ‘soft sell’ guy. I’ve never thought that was a big deal and why would anyone really care. It’s not about what I’m doing, it’s how can we get you the results that you are aiming for. So it’s not that I had to unlearn something but rather embrace the power of promotion a little more. Step out of my comfort zone. Whether it’s social media, blog posts, there is more that can be done. I’ll never be comfortable being a ‘hard sell’ type of person but there is more rounded approach that I can utilize.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I’m sure this is a similar story to what everyone else was going through – I launched the business in 2018 and with 2 years of building things were starting to really get going, then of course everything came to a halt in 2020. Having to shut things down, the great unknown of what was or wasn’t going on and when I was able to open back up, there a huge lull. There were no races for athletes to train for so the coaching side of things went completely away, and of course in-person sessions including bike fits were sporadic until later in 2021. The challenge was trying to stay connected to my client base and keep up to when and how things would re-open.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.tritomrendurance.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tritomr/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TriTomR
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomregal/
• Twitter: @tritomr
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@AthletesinMotionPodcast