I’m Jake Suss, and this is how I got here
In middle school, I ran a mile for the first time. Like most, I knew nothing about pacing, and my mediocre efforts put me over the line in 9:50. My Mom bet me $20 if I could break 9:00. The next time I ran, it was in 7:52.
I jogged a few times in high school, but I certainly wouldn’t call it training. I didn’t catch the running bug until my freshman year of college when I did my first marathon. I hardly trained at all and did the distance as a ruck with a 50lbs pack and boots. In my delusion after 10 hours of moving, I decided running 26.2 miles could be twice as fast and hurt half as much. I was hooked.
I did a few shorter races but never really trained for them. After college, I finally bought my first running book and began to get serious. Hard workouts beget better times, and I brought my marathon down to 2:55. I dabbled in a few triathlons as my wife Nicole blossomed in multisport. My passion lies in the run, but I learned enough from my research into triathlon enabled me to start coaching Nicole for her first Ironman and as she began competitively racing shorter distances.
I don’t do anything halfway, so I poured myself into research, coaching, and training. Along the way, I’ve been privileged to work with some amazing athletes; here are some of their achievements:
140.6 World Championship Qualifier
70.3 World Championship Qualifier
Ultraman World Championship Qualifier
Sprint Distance ITU Age Group World Championship Qualifier
Olympic Distance Age Group National Championship Qualifier
And I brought my marathon down to a 2:35 for a 14th place finish at the 2018 Marine Corps Marathon
I want to share my coaching, experiences, and research. I’m exceptionally passionate about what I do, and nothing brings me joy like helping athletes get faster and achieve their goals.
I’m Nicole Suss, the other half
Aside from being able to bench more than Jake, my job is nutrition. If you throw the same training at two athletes of similar abilities, the one who fuels properly and keeps herself healthy will be the one who comes out in front on race day. Our bodies are not machines you can throw any sort of fuel at and expect to function optimally. The complexity of the body requires whole foods, fruits, and veggies to perform and recover well. Will you survive if you eat nothing but chips and cookies? Probably. But can you perform at an elite level, or even expect age group podiums? Absolutely not.
I help our athletes—and our family—optimize nutritional intake in support of training. Beyond bland recommendations like “4 g/kg of carbohydrate per day,” I help translate your body’s nutrient requirements into delicious and healthy meals that you’ll want to eat. If you invest time, effort, and money into your athletic achievements, you’re doing a disservice to yourself if you don’t do the same in your nutrition. Workouts and training are only half the job; nutrition is the other half.
My passion for triathlon brought me to nutrition and research. After my first sprint triathlon, I was hooked. More and more medals went up on the walls, and my love of the sport drove me to complete my first 70.3 and 140.6 Ironman triathlons. Since my childhood, I dreamed of competing in the Olympics, and I pour my soul into triathlon as I seek to achieve that goal. Along the journey, I qualified for multiple national and world age group championships, with more races and bigger stages on the horizon.