Are you looking for a run or triathlon coach? Email me - dn@davidnicholson.com or call 07802 834477.
I am dedicated to helping athletes achieve their goals, whether new PBs, new distances, event qualifications, mastering new skills or simply enjoying sport and staying fit and healthy.
With experience of coaching runners and triathletes across all age groups, I love inspiring people to outperform their expectations. This might be coaching someone to complete their first triathlon or taking them from a casual runner up to a marathon.
In my work as a writer, I specialise in sports psychology and the many lessons we can draw from sport. I think having the right attitude is absolutely critical: wanting to improve, being motivated, seeing obstacles as challenges to be overcome, celebrating other people’s achievements, relishing competition, looking forward to physical tests, taking pleasure in the triathlon journey, setting yourself high standards, treating yourself well and paying attention to what your body is telling you.
This focus on an athlete’s mental and physical wellbeing is central to my coaching philosophy. Triathlon is about training and racing, but most of all it’s about health, in the widest sense of that word.
About me
I live in North London surrounded by four parks, three swimming pools and a reservoir, canals and cycleways leading to open countryside. In 2012 I discovered triathlon via the London Olympics and my ex-pro swimmer cousin James Parrack, who organises an annual race at his BEST Swim Training Centre in Mallorca.
After that, triathlon became my greatest passion and pleasure, alongside my day job as a freelance writer and journalist. I have a daughter and three sons who have all raced with me, while wife Clare has become the world’s number one triathlon kit woman, race logistics, transport and accommodation expert, event photographer and nutritionist. Together we have travelled the world to train, race and coach.
Over the years I’ve worked with some of the highest-profile coaches in the world and been part of the Trisutto Group, training alongside professionals like Daniela Ryf. I’ve also trained with Chris McCormack and Lucy Charles-Barclay absorbing lessons from each of them. I love the way that triathlon has such a flat hierarchy: you can meet and train with your heroes, then watch them fly past you on race day! There are few other sports where this is possible.
For London-based runners and triathletes, I can show you the best places to train, the best cycle routes, and the best swim, bike and run events to enter. London might seem a daunting place to be a triathlete, but in fact it’s full of opportunity and unexpected delights. Over the years I have built up a network of athletes and friends of all abilities.
I’m very happy to coach remotely and offer my experience of training and racing in 20 countries on five continents, while studying the latest advances in coaching technology and psychological motivation.
Triathlon is the most exciting and rewarding sporting journey. Get in touch to see how I can help you.
Email dn@davidnicholson.com or call 07802 834477
Links to my sports writing
1. Ten reasons to hire people who run - https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/10-reasons-hire-people-who-run-david-nicholson/
2. What sport has taught me about purposefulness - https://www.antal.com/blog/what-sport-has-taught-me-about-purposefulness
3. Think yourself fast - https://www.antal.com/blog/think-yourself-fast-
4. 5 ways to overcome barriers in sport and business - https://www.antal.com/blog/anything-is-possible-5-ways-to-overcome-barriers-in-sport-and-business
6. Read my race reports - https://davidnicholson.com/sport/
Personal Highlights
Ironman World Championship competitor 2022
Ironman 70.3 World Championship competitor 2018
Represented Great Britain at European Middle-Distance Championships
10-time Ironman finisher including Lanzarote, Wales, Nice, Cozumel, St George Utah, New Zealand and South Africa
Multiple age Group podiums at Middle Distance races
Top 10 British Age Group-ranked triathlete (out of 1,750)
Completed an ‘Everesting’ in 2020 (cycling the height of Everest in one continuous activity)
Author of ‘Think Like an Athlete: 57 Ways to Achieve Your Life Goals’
Sports motivation journalist for The Wall Street Journal