Ironman Profiles: Robyn and Stephen Wilham coach each other

For many, the grueling training required to finish 140.6 miles wouldn't be possible without the instruction, encouragement - and occasional yelling - from a coach. That training forces an athlete's body and mind to change, and while they may not realize just how much, coaches like Robyn Wilham see it all.

Robyn runs FX Multisport Coaching in Chattanooga, and along with her husband Stephen, has personally witnessed dozens of in-training triathletes change before her eyes. She says the peak this year was helping 30 different athletes train for the Ironman Chattanooga.

The majority of clients aren't veterans of the sport, trying to shave minutes from their best time. No, it's average folks looking to accomplish something amazing, and the biggest change, Robyn says, is that they stay that way long after the race.

"It's a challenge to achieve finishing the Ironman, and once they've done that, they want to stick with the triathlon lifestyle," she says. "Once you have that drive, it doesn't really go away. Not permanently, anyway."

Even when racers do fall off that competitive wagon, they inevitably get back on. Robyn recalls one 60-year-old in Chattanooga's 2014 Ironman who was taken down after someone threw tacks and oil onto a portion of the cycling course, causing him to crash. He'd raced triathlons in his youth, and had come to her for training to help him prepare once more. Even after sustaining broken bones and a head injury from the accident, he came back even stronger in the 2015 event, and achieved a solid finish.

"It takes an immense amount of tenacity and persistence to train to get to that point," Robyn says. "Even though it went down the tubes to sabotage, he never let it get him down."

Stories of perseverance like that serve as a powerful motivator for both Robyn's and Stephen's own training - especially when they train one another. Stephen ran the 2014 Ironman Chattanooga under the tutelage of his wife, and she ran the 2015 Ironman Chattanooga while he coached her.

Coaching each other, Stephen says, was interesting, to say the least.

When your coach is with you from the time you wake up to the time you go to bed, it changes the dynamic. Something as innocuous as brushing your teeth or sitting down for dinner could initiate a conversation about changing your cycling training schedule next week. What would have been a fleeting moment of relaxation instead brings all the exhaustion of training back to the forefront, something Stephen and Robyn agree happened more than once.

"There were some snafus being coached by your wife," he says, "but it worked. She was able to coach me to a personal record of 11:04 in 2014."

There was also luxury in having your significant other train you, they agree. When Stephen suffered through Achilles tendinitis, it left him unable to run for extended periods of time. Robyn was able to modify their training by including more swimming and moving the peaks and valleys of their regimen around to accommodate the injury to ensure Stephen was ready for the race. It was flexibility he might not have gotten in another coach.

Flexibility, Robyn says, is one of the biggest lessons she tries to instill in her clients.

"You might get injured or sick, but you have to roll with the punches," she says. "Even if you're in tip-top shape come race day, sometimes people will throw tacks on the road. You have to be ready for anything."

As to what the best feeling for her as a trainer is, her answer is unwavering: seeing the sense of accomplishment from her clients, whether that comes at the finish line or during training that never even leads to race day.

"The ultimate end result that people feel is confidence," Robyn says. "Anytime someone accomplishes something they didn't know they could do, it's a huge confidence builder, which always spills over into every other aspect of their life. It's part of the passion in why I love being a coach."