“We are not interested in being like everyone else. We are here to wake up and shake up the world of endurance sports”- BJ, Triathlon Coach and YogiTriathlete Co-Founder
BJ Gumkowski
Coaching philosophy: A little bit. Every day. Over a long period of time. Don’t overthink your way out of achieving your goals. Give yourself a chance by choosing to do something today. Do not delay your dreams.
BJ lives with a deep passion for serving others to achieve their greatest dreams. He works one-on-one with his athletes to empower them to be active participants in their process of physical and mental growth.
BJ is a 19x Ironman triathlete, Ironman Kona and 70.3 World Championship Qualifier, Boston Marathon qualifier, and triathlon coach with major street cred. He finished 3rd overall in his first ultra-marathon race in 2022. He is a 200-hr Live Love Teach trained yoga instructor and certified in Plant-Based Nutrition from the T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies.
Jess Gumkowski
Coaching philosophy: Peak performance and athletic potential are found in the present moment. By way of mental training as its own discipline, athletes learn to sift through the clutter of their mind, deepen their relationship with presence and meet their potential with ease.
Jess is a well-respected mindset coach within the endurance and ultra-endurance sports community. She’s worked with athletes on mind-body health since 2004, first as a sports and orthopedic massage therapist and now as a yoga instructor and mindset coach.
She is a long-time athlete, yoga instructor, retreat leader, and podcast host who realized many years ago that triathlon and yoga brought her to the same place from very different directions.
Jess is the author of Awake Athlete: When Mastery Is Your Only Option YogiTriathlete Cookbook: High Vibe Recipes for the Athlete Appetite and High Vibe Pie: Pizza Night Finally Done Right.
She’s been featured in Triathlete Magazine, SD Voyager, Men’s Journal, Elephant Journal, Massage Magazine, TriZone, blogs, and podcasts for her experience in holistic health and nutrition.
Melissa Gansz
Coaching philosophy: I am intent on pushing the boundaries we draw for ourselves and stepping past resistance.
Melissa is a nature-loving triathlete and long-distance runner. She holds a Master’s in Clinical Herbal Medicine and is a 70.3 World Championship Qualifier.
Melissa has been an avid runner for 10 + years, with more recently focusing on marathon, ultra, and Olympic to 70.3 triathlon distances. Melissa’s coaching surrounds running in addition to strength training, cross-training, mobility, and herbal medicine support.
She is focused on whole-body wellness and can offer her athletes the option to incorporate herbs into their training program for optimal human performance. Melissa has her Master’s in Clinical Herbal Medicine from the Maryland University of Integrated Health, a regionally accredited university. Melissa specializes in the use of herbal adaptogens, a stress-reducing category of herbs, to support recovery in endurance and triathlon training. Herbal adaptogens serve to support the nervous system and allow us to move through training blocks in a more balanced, productive state. They are an advantage for any athlete who is striving to push barriers and unlock next-level athletic performance