Impact by the numbers
About Me
I build systems and products. I've spent 20+ years coaching endurance and obstacle course racing athletes. Spartan Race named me one of America's Top 10 OCR Coaches, and I serve on the USAOCR Coaching & Training Committee. That background shapes how I think about everything I build.
I got my start as the 5th employee at BizLand, a dot-com B2B web hosting startup. I was the first support rep, grew into managing a team of 30, then moved into Linux systems administration. From there I went to a game studio called Stainless Steel Studios, where I went from contract QA tester to IT Manager to Systems Designer. After that I spent five years at Linedata Services keeping financial trading systems running at 99.99% uptime across offices in the US, India, and Tunisia.
From there I founded Mountain Strength Fitness, grew it 15-30% year over year to ~$400K before COVID hit, ran sales and onboarding, built out scheduling, billing, and CRM systems, led a team of 13 coaches, and eventually sold it.
Now I work at Harvard Business School on an Agile team, delivering web app based simulations in the classroom and remotely for 50 to 900 participants. I work directly with faculty, product teams, and program stakeholders, translate technical systems into clear guidance for non-technical audiences, and troubleshoot live in high-stakes environments. On the side, I'm building Ruckfecta.
My focus is simple: systems, users, and performance.
Learning & Enablement
I help people learn complex systems and use them well.
Whether I am prepping faculty, facilitating a live session, or coaching a team, my job is the same: make hard things clear and help people do their best work.
Faculty enablement
I prep Harvard Business School faculty to run web app based simulations in the classroom. I cut their setup from 30 minutes to 5, write the guidance they lean on, and stay close so they walk in confident.
Live facilitation
I facilitate live simulations for 50 to 900 participants, in the room and remotely. I read the audience, keep the session moving, and troubleshoot in real time when the stakes are high.
Coaching teams
I led a team of 13 coaches at Mountain Strength Fitness and built the onboarding that brought each of them up to speed. I coach people the way I coach athletes: clear standards, honest feedback, steady reps.
Translating the technical
I turn technical systems into plain language for non-technical audiences. I write the documentation, build the runbooks, and make sure faculty, product teams, and stakeholders all understand what they need to do.
Featured Work
Things I've built.
Ruckfecta
The competition platform for rucking. A single Ruckfecta Score captures distance, elevation, and load, rewarding real effort, not just miles.
Rucking had no fair way to compare effort. Distance alone ignores the weight on your back and the hills you climb, so leaderboards rewarded the wrong thing.
I designed one score that combines distance, elevation, and load, then built solo rankings, team battles, and chapter competitions on top of it. I built and shipped the whole thing myself with AI-assisted development on Replit's Agent, a live product with free and paid tiers.
Selected for the Replit Race to Revenue cohort (Top 10). I used the cohort to test go-to-market, pricing, and positioning with real users, and let how people actually logged and shared their rucks shape the roadmap.
USAOCR Level 1 Coaching Certification
The official coaching certification for USA Obstacle Course Racing. 11 chapters, 52 lessons, covering everything from training systems to program design to athlete development. I picked the platform, designed the course structure, and co-wrote the curriculum.
Built for the national governing body of OCR. I sit on the USAOCR Coaching & Training Committee.
Everest Debrief Generator
Faculty spent about 30 minutes prepping each Everest simulation debrief by hand: cleaning data, building slides, formatting. I shipped a tool that does it in under 5 minutes. Upload the export, get back a finished PowerPoint with multi-slide tables, auto-splitting for large cohorts, and formatted scoring breakdowns.
I directed AI tools to build the MVP, then wrote the QA test cases, process walkthrough, and data-to-slides spec to hand it off cleanly to a dev team. A 6x speedup on a recurring faculty task.
Epic Race Training
Endurance. Obstacle. Hybrid. A coaching platform delivering structured online training programs via TrainHeroic, from Spartan Stadion prep to 10K running plans. Built for athletes who need running, strength, and grit.
I design programs for obstacle course racers, endurance athletes, and hybrid competitors at every level.
What People Say
In their words.
Rich consistently stays ahead of potential issues, highlighting the 'unknown unknowns' and making sure we are aware of risks or dependencies we may not have initially considered... During on-site execution, he remained calm under pressure and focused the team on solutions rather than escalating stress... It genuinely feels like we are working together as one team.
The Race to Revenue documentary.
I was filmed for this mini documentary series following the Replit Race to Revenue cohort, the same cohort I built Ruckfecta in. It follows the founders building real products and chasing first revenue in public.
Capabilities
I work across engineering, product, operations, and coaching.
Technical
- Python
- JavaScript
- Systems design
- Data workflows
Building with AI
- AI-assisted development (Replit Agent)
- Rapid prototyping to live product
- Working with LLMs
- Spec, QA, and dev-team handoff
Product & Growth
- Product thinking
- User experience
- Gamification
- GTM (Race to Revenue)
Leadership & Operations
- Stakeholder management
- Faculty consulting
- Client onboarding
- Team leadership
Coaching & Performance
- Endurance training
- OCR coaching
- Program design
- Curriculum design
The 5 Minute Entrepreneur
Quick episodes on business, mindset, and getting things done. Five minutes, one idea, every time.
Writing & Media
Writing, press, and conversations.
Epic Training
I spent five years writing this. 300 pages covering strength, obstacle technique, mobility, injury prevention, and race-day prep. Ran a Kickstarter that raised $9K to get it designed and published.
10 Trainers You Should Know
Obstacle Course Race Training
10 Things I Wish I Knew When Starting My Fitness Business
The Obstacle Racing Overlap
Winchester Business Leader
Let's build.
I'm most interested in developer tools, product roles, and teams building things people actually use. If that's you, let's talk.
Rich@epicracetraining.com