7X NATIONAL CHAMPION
19X NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP MEDALIST
About Luke
Through his racing career, Luke has raced domestically and internationally in cross-country, short-track, cross-country marathon events, as well as gravel, cyclocross, and road events. From privateer setups to factory team support, Luke has a wide range of experience training and racing across the country and globe. He calls East Coast, USA home, and is still partial to his local trails!
Splitting his time between racing and coaching, Luke has bridged professional racing and coaching to create a rewarding relationship between the two. His athletes range from masters racers, to pros, to national champions, to greenhorns just exploring the sport.
A D1 collegiate athlete while studying Economics at The University of North Carolina, and now a coach and athlete, managing a busy work life and a full time career on the bike has its challenges. Luke is now able to help other athletes, from recreational to professional, achieve their goals with his flexible and focused approach to training. Whether you're working full-time, or have your full focus on racing, he has a race proven, data-driven plan for you.
Outside of his training and coaching, Luke enjoys sailing, fixing things, and almost anything else involving time spent outside.
Splitting his time between racing and coaching, Luke has bridged professional racing and coaching to create a rewarding relationship between the two. His athletes range from masters racers, to pros, to national champions, to greenhorns just exploring the sport.
A D1 collegiate athlete while studying Economics at The University of North Carolina, and now a coach and athlete, managing a busy work life and a full time career on the bike has its challenges. Luke is now able to help other athletes, from recreational to professional, achieve their goals with his flexible and focused approach to training. Whether you're working full-time, or have your full focus on racing, he has a race proven, data-driven plan for you.
Outside of his training and coaching, Luke enjoys sailing, fixing things, and almost anything else involving time spent outside.
Coaching Style
While coaching, Luke has been able to leverage the experience and expertise he's gained as a professional athlete to bring quality & affordable coaching to his clients.
With 16+ years of experience racing, and 7+ years coaching, his coaching relies on a combination practical approaches rooted in his experience training and training others, while also leaning heavily on the modern techniques and theory from the evolving field of exercise science. Luke's blending of traditional models and the latest data allows for an efficient and realistic style of training that has proven itself over and over again. His acumen in the racing world and depth of experience lends to a important understanding of the demands on the athlete that few grasp as well. Effective and adaptable, his style of coaching is well adapted to the needs of those new to cycling, and those competing at the top of the sport.
Working with athletes to improve their performance from both a physical and mental perspective, he's helped guide athletes to National Championship medals and victories, stage race titles, State Championship victories, countless NICA and regional wins, personal bests, and more, all while encouraging athletes to find balance and enjoy the training process. His coaching has enabled athletes to achieve success within the season, improvement over their careers, and find lifelong balance between life and sport.
A graduate from the University of North Carolina, and a 'working pro,' Luke is familiar with the struggle of a time-crunched athlete. He's spent almost all of his racing career training around school, internships, running a business, house projects - the list goes on; he can help you do the same. While a self-proclaimed mountain biker, he coaches all disciplines, including: MTB XC & Endurance, Road, Gravity MTB, and Cyclocross athletes.
With 16+ years of experience racing, and 7+ years coaching, his coaching relies on a combination practical approaches rooted in his experience training and training others, while also leaning heavily on the modern techniques and theory from the evolving field of exercise science. Luke's blending of traditional models and the latest data allows for an efficient and realistic style of training that has proven itself over and over again. His acumen in the racing world and depth of experience lends to a important understanding of the demands on the athlete that few grasp as well. Effective and adaptable, his style of coaching is well adapted to the needs of those new to cycling, and those competing at the top of the sport.
Working with athletes to improve their performance from both a physical and mental perspective, he's helped guide athletes to National Championship medals and victories, stage race titles, State Championship victories, countless NICA and regional wins, personal bests, and more, all while encouraging athletes to find balance and enjoy the training process. His coaching has enabled athletes to achieve success within the season, improvement over their careers, and find lifelong balance between life and sport.
A graduate from the University of North Carolina, and a 'working pro,' Luke is familiar with the struggle of a time-crunched athlete. He's spent almost all of his racing career training around school, internships, running a business, house projects - the list goes on; he can help you do the same. While a self-proclaimed mountain biker, he coaches all disciplines, including: MTB XC & Endurance, Road, Gravity MTB, and Cyclocross athletes.
Training Philosophy
Consistency and Compliance
One of the mainstays to a productive training program is consistency. That doesn't mean every day is perfect, but it does mean that we need to design your program to be both challenging, but also manageable. You dictate the schedule that we set forward, and the program adapts around you. All lukeVcoaching One-on-One programs and Custom Plans are designed around your schedule, from your weekly commitments, to your yearly vacation. The goal is to make a program that gives you the best possible chance at compliance, while carefully pushing you out of your comfort zone. This is what drives your body's adaptation - otherwise known as progressive overload (through general adaptation syndrome, or GAS).
Periodization Models
There are a few ways to structure the progressive overload in your training, but the classic model, which I frequently reference, is called linear periodization. You may know about this model already as it's commonly cited by cyclists; you've probably heard the term 'base miles' before. In this model you start with high volume (hrs)/low intensity, gradually building intensity, and ultimately ending up with a low volume/high intensity training load proximal to your main event. This works well in many cases.
When multiple high-priority events are in the schedule, it makes sense to transition to a model of undulating periodization. I use this model frequently when athletes have a high density of racing, and/or they are in a championship series. Often it makes sense to begin preparation for a season with a linear model, and transition into an undulating model once the season begins.
Lastly, in a small number of cases, usually in climates where the off-season isn't conducive to high volume or schedules do not permit typical periodization, reverse periodization can be used to good effect. As the name implies, it is a model where low volume/high intensity comes early in the programming, and high volume/low intensity comes closer to the target event.
Load Management/Recovery
It's easy to write a program that crushes the athlete... The skill is in designing a program that is appropriately demanding - in such a way that adaptation is sufficiently triggered - but that also prescribes appropriate rest as to avoid over-training. This balance is crucial in the success of a program, especially long term, as over-training can be physically damaging, mentally draining, and a major setback for performance. For better or worse, this is not the same balance for all athletes. Ability, age, life stress, and many other factors influence an athlete's appropriate training load, and in turn, the necessary rest! As an economist (What I studied at UNC-CH), we'd call this preservation of capital, and my training programs are an optimization function for your fitness - I'm always looking for the best possible balance of training stress and recovery for you in your unique circumstances. My programs will always look to capture a 'big picture' of your life demands and training capacity, assigning appropriate rest and working progressive overload in controlled and manageable increments.
Workout Simplicity
My workouts are designed to be remembered. Yes, they have cross-compatibility with the latest cycling computers, so you can ride your workout from your head unit, but my goal is to design a workout that is straightforward and effective. This is a philosophy that makes training more fun, and that has yielded the best results for me and my athletes. It also allows you to go out with less to worry about, so that you can focus on the effort rather than the complexity of the next interval block. Training is a long-term endeavor, and it's in both of our best interests for you to stick with the program and see the results take effect - that's a lot easier when workouts are simple, and even fun. That said, simple workouts can be very challenging, but at least you'll have less to remember when you're out on the bike!
Strength Training
Concurrent training - endurance and resistance training prescribed simultaneously - has been demonstrated in controlled trials to effectively improve physical performance over endurance training alone. However, when combining both training modalities, managing overall workload is vital to avoid over-training. That, along with the additional time commitment, does not make it appropriate in all scenarios. I would venture to say that 50-70% of my clients benefit substantially from concurrent training, while the remainder see either no net gain, or even a net loss through fatigue outweighing potential benefit. While strength training can be included in my One-on-One Programs and Custom Plans, whether or not we add it in your schedule is a decision that we will make after reviewing your start-up documents and, for One-on-One athletes, have at least one phone call check-in.
One of the mainstays to a productive training program is consistency. That doesn't mean every day is perfect, but it does mean that we need to design your program to be both challenging, but also manageable. You dictate the schedule that we set forward, and the program adapts around you. All lukeVcoaching One-on-One programs and Custom Plans are designed around your schedule, from your weekly commitments, to your yearly vacation. The goal is to make a program that gives you the best possible chance at compliance, while carefully pushing you out of your comfort zone. This is what drives your body's adaptation - otherwise known as progressive overload (through general adaptation syndrome, or GAS).
Periodization Models
There are a few ways to structure the progressive overload in your training, but the classic model, which I frequently reference, is called linear periodization. You may know about this model already as it's commonly cited by cyclists; you've probably heard the term 'base miles' before. In this model you start with high volume (hrs)/low intensity, gradually building intensity, and ultimately ending up with a low volume/high intensity training load proximal to your main event. This works well in many cases.
When multiple high-priority events are in the schedule, it makes sense to transition to a model of undulating periodization. I use this model frequently when athletes have a high density of racing, and/or they are in a championship series. Often it makes sense to begin preparation for a season with a linear model, and transition into an undulating model once the season begins.
Lastly, in a small number of cases, usually in climates where the off-season isn't conducive to high volume or schedules do not permit typical periodization, reverse periodization can be used to good effect. As the name implies, it is a model where low volume/high intensity comes early in the programming, and high volume/low intensity comes closer to the target event.
Load Management/Recovery
It's easy to write a program that crushes the athlete... The skill is in designing a program that is appropriately demanding - in such a way that adaptation is sufficiently triggered - but that also prescribes appropriate rest as to avoid over-training. This balance is crucial in the success of a program, especially long term, as over-training can be physically damaging, mentally draining, and a major setback for performance. For better or worse, this is not the same balance for all athletes. Ability, age, life stress, and many other factors influence an athlete's appropriate training load, and in turn, the necessary rest! As an economist (What I studied at UNC-CH), we'd call this preservation of capital, and my training programs are an optimization function for your fitness - I'm always looking for the best possible balance of training stress and recovery for you in your unique circumstances. My programs will always look to capture a 'big picture' of your life demands and training capacity, assigning appropriate rest and working progressive overload in controlled and manageable increments.
Workout Simplicity
My workouts are designed to be remembered. Yes, they have cross-compatibility with the latest cycling computers, so you can ride your workout from your head unit, but my goal is to design a workout that is straightforward and effective. This is a philosophy that makes training more fun, and that has yielded the best results for me and my athletes. It also allows you to go out with less to worry about, so that you can focus on the effort rather than the complexity of the next interval block. Training is a long-term endeavor, and it's in both of our best interests for you to stick with the program and see the results take effect - that's a lot easier when workouts are simple, and even fun. That said, simple workouts can be very challenging, but at least you'll have less to remember when you're out on the bike!
Strength Training
Concurrent training - endurance and resistance training prescribed simultaneously - has been demonstrated in controlled trials to effectively improve physical performance over endurance training alone. However, when combining both training modalities, managing overall workload is vital to avoid over-training. That, along with the additional time commitment, does not make it appropriate in all scenarios. I would venture to say that 50-70% of my clients benefit substantially from concurrent training, while the remainder see either no net gain, or even a net loss through fatigue outweighing potential benefit. While strength training can be included in my One-on-One Programs and Custom Plans, whether or not we add it in your schedule is a decision that we will make after reviewing your start-up documents and, for One-on-One athletes, have at least one phone call check-in.
