Felipe began his triathlon career in 2012 after seeing his brother train for and finish his first 70.3. He had just taken his Professional Engineering Licensure exam and found himself with a whole lot of time on his hands. Felipe wanted to do something outside since he had spent about a year studying for the exam. He had a background in swimming and enjoyed riding bicycles (mainly MTB), but never competitively. His running was non-existent as a kid, as he suffered from asthma and couldn’t run without a rescue inhaler, so he simply didn’t run. After much research, Felipe met IronTex and Mike Blankenship, and he and his wife, Adriana, discovered that being active was actually a lot of fun. The social aspect of IronTex was what kept them coming back to practice each week and also discovering what their minds and bodies were capable of achieving. He also enjoyed the fact that he could share the sport with his wife, which they use as their “us time.” Swimming, biking or running are, more often than not, date nights.

After a few seasons of competing, it’s only natural to develop some tremendous memories — both good and bad. Any time he finishes a race holding hands with Adriana are among Felipe’s most memorable, but the very first time they finished hand-in-hand was after a bad bike crash at mile 28 of the Challenge Atlantic City 140.6 race in 2014.  Adriana helped pace Felipe for nearly 40 miles of the bike leg and walked with him the entire marathon and finished together.

Felipe became a USA Triathlon coach in April 2016. After much soul searching, he wanted to find a way to give back to a sport that has given him so much. He wants to also help others reach the same goals he once had. He is a firm believer that a coach is much more than someone who writes training plans. For that you can