Justin Daerr

During my senior year in high school, in Houston, Texas, I was asked to write weekly journals in my English class. As I ran out of things to write about, I jotted down a bucket list that included doing an Ironman triathlon one day; regardless of the fact that I did not regularly swim, bike or run in any fashion. Following my freshman year in college, a friend asked me if I wanted to do an Olympic distance triathlon the following weekend and I said “sure.” A year later, after my sophomore year in college, I found myself toeing the line for my first Ironman triathlon. I had a goal of breaking 13 hours and despite a frequent urge to lie down in the last few miles, I crossed the finish line in 12:55.

I remember being amazed at the speed of the athletes at the front of the race and I wanted to learn what it took to be like them. The next couple years involved plenty of swim, bike, run, but it also involved a lot of time reading and learning as much as I could about triathlon and conditioning. It paid off when I competed in my second Ironman, just before graduating college, and finished in 9:20, winning my age group for the first time. The following year I competed in Ironman Hawai’i finishing as the top American Amateur at the age of 23.

Over the last decade I have continued to search for ways to become a better athlete and it has been a constant learning process. In that time period I took myself from a 13-hour finisher to an Ironman Champion, with a personal best of 8:13:35.

My journey as an athlete has been paralleled with my journey as a coach. My first encounter with coaching came in 2002, when I started a beginner triathlon program at Texas A&M and after graduating, I attended a USAT Level 1 certification clinic in 2004. I started to work with athletes one-one-one shortly afterwards. In 2007, I joined Endurance Corner shortly after its founding and have served as a coach, camp director and operator; becoming co-owner in 2013.

Most athletes that I work with have a lot of self-drive and motivation to improve. Their enthusiasm for the sport can then be complemented with my experience and knowledge, making for a great team. While I primarily focus on excelling at long distance triathlon, I have also worked with short course athletes, long distance open water swimmers, runners and cyclists. Every athlete I have ever worked with has their own unique set of life circumstances and it is my job to try and help maximize their training and performance under those conditions.

Personal Race Resume:

• Ironman Boulder Champion
• 8:13:35 Ironman Personal Best
• 3x 2nd Place Ironman Finishes
• 8x Top-3 Ironman Finishes
• 15x Top-5 Ironman Finishes
• 21x Top-10 Ironman Finishes
• 4x Ironman Hawai’i finisher
• 34x Ironman finisher

To learn more about Justin, you can visit his website.