Noah Brautigam – Salt Lake City Running Coach
$120.00 / month and a $19.00 sign-up fee
I’m a mountain lover with a competitive streak, and I love helping others feel the joy I have from pushing limits in the wild.
Description
Salt Lake City based running coach Noah Brautigam embodies dirt and vert, mountain running, and sky running – he is on trails on a daily (sometimes twice daily!) basis, uphills, downhills, and has finished on the podium of ultras all over the world.
LEVELS: Intermediate, Advanced
TYPES: Trail
DISTANCES: 5k/10k/Half Marathon, Marathon, Ultra
TRAINING PLATFORM: Google Docs
TRAINING PLAN: Individual, customized training plan
COMMUNICATION: Unlimited email, unlimited text, unlimited phone
RESPONSE TIME: Within 24 hours
LOCATION: Salt Lake City, UT
SPECIALTIES
I enjoy helping athletes find joy in the process of the hard work required to reach athletic goals. My personal specialty is in “Mountain Running” – whether that is Skyrunning (VK up to 50k+), marathon to 100 mile challenging trail races, training and competing at altitude, or working towards completing a gnarly FKT route. My focus is on aerobic fitness, muscular endurance, periodized training, specific strength, and most importantly the JOY of getting out “there” and working towards something. I prefer to work with athletes who are motivated to reach a personal goal.
PHILOSOPHY
We choose to do this – approach training and racing with gratitude and realize that it is a privilege, not a right. This will help you find the silver lining even when the going gets tough. Also, it is extremely important to me that the journey is fun and fulfilling, and if that means personalizing training to fit in hikes with the kids, ski days, or bike rides with friends, I’m fully on board.
COACHING EXPERIENCE
I have coached cross-country skiers ages 6-21 at varying levels (beginner club programs to Junior National champions) for over a decade. I have also coached a few friends at request to complete their first 100 miler, or tackle a challenging Skyrace. While cross-country skiing and running differ considerably, the energy systems are the same, and the training for tough mountain races often closely resembles successful skiing training regimens.
ABOUT ME
I’m in my early 30’s and grew up at a xc ski center in the middle of the Green Mountains of VT, although I currently live in SLC, Utah. My day job is as a Geospatial Analyst for an environmental consulting firm, but I still dabble in cartography, making personal maps of my home terrain to draw on and scheme over at night. I like writing code, but am bad at it 🙂
BIG INFLUENCES
- Murray Banks: my first ski coach and the most motivating and inspirational human I know
- Scott Johnston and Steve House: The Uphill Athlete – energy systems, training methodologies
- David Roche: fun in running, speedwork for trail runners
- Kilian Jornet: mix it up, experiment, and do cool things
RACING HISTORY
I ran my first marathon at 18, and have been racing trail ultras since 2013 – primarily 50k-50mi distances. I ran for the Salomon US Trail Running Team from 2014-2019, but struggled with the social media “influencer” side of the gig. Since 2015 my focus has been on SkyRunning, which is a brutal, exhausting, and unbelievably rewarding pastime. I have raced all over the US, and ran in the SkyRunning World Championships in Scotland for the US Team in 2017. I would say that my best race came in the 2020 Speedgoat 50k (50k, 11K+ climbing), where I was able to finally leverage some old-man strength to pull out the win.
PRs
- Marathon: 2:32:08 (10/13/2014) City of Trees Marathon
- 50k: 3:45:11 (11/9/2019) Antelope Island 50k
- SkyRace 50k: 5:29:02 (7/25/2020) Speedgoat 50k
- 50mi: 8:04:12 (6/2/2018) Squaw Peak 50 Mile
- 5k xc: 15:01 (High School) still stings
CONTACT NOAH
Finding a coach who is a great fit for you is really important. We encourage you to email your coach prior to signing up so you can connect, communicate, and ensure a good athlete/coach fit.
PUBLICATIONS
- https://www.outsideonline.com/2418321/max-vert-challenge-virtual-race
- Off the Couch podcast: https://blisterreview.com/podcasts/2020-speedgoat-50k-winner-noah-brautigam-ep-61
SOCIAL
Ben Manis –
I only worked with Noah for a short time (no fault of his) and really really enjoyed it. Noah is a super good communicator, and combines a very scientific approach with a real understanding of how every athlete is totally different. Would highly recommend to anyone.
Eric Hopkins –
What really sets Noah apart as a coach is his DYNAMIC and FUN training. He uses words with imagery to help me have a concept for that day’s goals — “[like do these strides] fun, floaty fast.” Noah is smart and dedicated, so he’s able to modify the plan and make it fun and fitting for YOU. I sprained my ankle and he immediately adjusted my schedule with a bike focus so I could keep up my aerobic fitness. Overall just a cool guy with a good attitude. Not just a teacher but a role model.
Juan Carlos Asensio –
Noah is an incredibly smart, knowledgeable, kind and thoughtful person and coach. Before we even got into training plans and weekly goals, he took the time to learn about me and my background, understand where I am at in my endurance training journey and helped me clarify my overarching goals to align them with my experience and current life situation.
This background info phase took only a couple of days and a day after we completed this initial stage, Noah had already put together a training plan that took into account every meaningful aspect of what we discussed in preparation for my main race objective. As a coach, Noah is careful, helpful and attentive, and the opposite of prescriptive. He’s given me guidelines, tools and ways of thinking/problem-solving so that I can work around the challenges that inevitably come up during training: fatigue, work/life stress, ever-shifting availability for training, dialing-in nutrition, lack of sleep etc…
I’ve been working with Noah for three months. During this time, I’ve felt supported at every step of this journey. I’ve really enjoyed collaborating with someone who I see as a partner in training and who is incredibly knowledgeable and resourceful in all things endurance training. He has encouraged me to ask questions around things like nutrition and preparing for a race, and has always provided insightful, actionable feedback that I can then use to experiment and come up with the things that work for me as an athlete and I look forward to many more successful trail running seasons with Noah.
Chanh Nguyen –
I’m two months in with Noah and I can definitely feel the difference from training alone.
Highlights:
– I’m not afraid to ask dumb questions
– He supports my “big” goals
– He skis, which helps me with training because he balances ski and run days
– More specific to people who live in Salt Lake City, but he helps guide me with where I could run regarding specific trails
Lindsay Larsen –
I’ve been working with Noah for just over 2 months now and my experience with him has been fantastic so far. He is helping me prepare for some trail marathons next year and he has really helped me build a good base without increasing mileage or intensity too quickly.
He is very responsive to emails and answers any questions that I have. I also like that we’ve started monthly video chats to talk about how training is going, personal goals, questions, and anything I’d like advice on. I’m looking forward to a great running year thanks to Noah!