Coaches
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Pedro Gomes
Pedro Gomes has been a triathlon coach for over a decade and splits his time between Scottsdale and Flagstaff in Arizona, coaching both remotely and in-person. Coach Pedro likes to keep his training group small to ensure premium, day to day guidance at all times and he has coached over 30 athletes to IRONMAN World Championship in Kona and more than 40 athletes into 70.3 World Championships. Pedro Gomes currently holds coaching certifications with USA Triathlon, USA Cycling, RRCA, IRONMAN U and has a NCCA-accredited personal trainer certification. Beyond the training plan itself, Pedro believes that creating a group environment and regularly seeing athletes in person is essential for the growth of the athlete in the sport and that long term success should always be the objective of the training plan.
As an athlete Pedro Gomes is still actively racing and currently holds some of the fastest official IRONMAN times ever posted by Portuguese triathlete with a PB of 8h08 over the full distance and 3h48 over the half distance (70.3). As a true endurance athlete lover of the outdoors and avid adventurer, Pedro often likes to mix up his racing and it's very commonly seen out on the trails doing ultra endurance events or gravel races. .
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Carrisa Matenaer
Carrisa Matenaer started swimming at the age of 5 and went on to be an All-American and All-State High School swimmer, as well as a collegiate swimmer for the University of Minnesota. Prior to joining the corporate world, she worked full time as a Head Age Group swim coach in charge of all 14 & under programming. During these 8 years she had the opportunity to learn under some of the best age group and Olympic swim coaches in the country. She is now a USAT Level 1 certified coach working with triathletes to improve stroke technique and efficiency, and gain confidence in the water. Still an athlete to this day, she started focusing on the 70.3 distance just over two years ago, completing 9 Half Ironman races since then and recently qualifying for her 3rd Ironman 70.3 World Championship.
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Rachel Zilinskas
Rachel Zilinskas swam competitively for 17 years and as member of the USA Swimming National Team in both open water and pool events, Rachel earned international medals competing around the world. Rachel retired from competitive swimming after a four year collegiate career at the U of Georgia where she was a 6-time All-American, team captain, and a member of two NCAA National Championship teams. After competing in her first Triathlon in 2018, the new hobby quickly turned into a new athletic career. Rachel earned her pro card in 2021 and in her first year as a pro triathlete managed multiple top 4 Ironman finishes, qualified to Kona and is currently the #2 ranked swimmer in the World by the PTO. Rachel loves using her many years of swimming expertise to teach others of all ages and abilities, having began teaching swim lessons in high school and continued instructing technique for the past ten years, specializing in freestyle and open water form