Coach Lindsey Desai is an endurance athlete too
By Linda Quinlan
Lindsey Desai has found a way to combine her love of fitness — and people.
Her enthusiasm for endurance sports is so infectious, it’s no wonder she has added coaching to her repertoire.
Yet, Lindsey (Welter) Desai is the first to tell you that she only “dabbled” in sports in high school. She did one year of cross-country and says she was the slowest on the team.
It’s far from the case today.
The Gates resident was the first female to finish the Keuka Lake Sprint Triathlon, held at Keuka College in Keuka Park, June 7. She was also the second athlete to finish (including the men). The event required a 70-meter swim, 20-kilometer bike ride and five-kilometer run.
Less than two weeks earlier, in late May, she was the first overall female in an Olympic distance triathlon held in Perry. That event required a just under one-mile swim, an almost 25-mile bike ride and a 6.2-mile run.
Desai, 36, said her interest in fitness started in her late teens when her boss, Helen Miller, encouraged her to train for her first 5K (a 3.1-mile run).
“I tried walking and running,” she recalled. She finished.
She completed her first half-marathon (a 13.1-mile run) at 22.
“By then I was all-in,” she said with her characteristic big smile.
To date, she has now completed six full Iron Man events, which require a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride and a 26.2 mile (marathon) run.
She has done and continues to do countless other running and athletic competitions at a variety of distances. The events have taken her across the U.S. and elsewhere.
Last year, she qualified, for the first time, for the World Championship half-Iron Man Championships in Marbella, Spain.
“It was super challenging and a very long day, but it was the experience of a lifetime,” Desai said.
She’s currently training for her second World Championship, being held this fall in France.
A hair stylist, Desai started coaching, under the name Linzanity Fit, in 2017.
“I worked with a coach when I was training for my first triathlon,” she explained. “And since I’m passionate about fitness and love people and teaching,” coaching seemed like a logical next step.
She went to Savannah, Georgia, where she studied and earned her USAT (United States of America Triathlon) certification, and continues her education every two years to keep it valid.
She’s also certified by MadDogg Spinning Athletics.
She has worked at Scott Miller Salon in Pittsford for more than 17 years, but is now three-quarter time as her coaching business has grown.
She currently has 18 athletes, with two more starting soon. Athletes come to her from all over, Desai said, but primarily through social media sites like Instagram and Facebook.
Some of “her” athletes are virtual or long-distance while others are local. She has worked with athletes as far away as Australia and Israel.
“I was drawn to her energy and enthusiasm,” said runner and triathlete Sarah Ozimek, who had taken a break after having her two children.
The year after hiring Desai as her coach she said she placed first in her age group in all four of the sprint triathlons she entered. Now she has started training for longer distances.
Desai coaches through phone calls, messaging and texting.
She was the only coach she reached out to, Ozimek said. “She was positive, encouraging and genuinely excited to help me improve. She also has this habit of saying ‘I believe in you’ that’s quietly powerful.”
Desai consults with her athletes before “onboarding” them and having them fill out a questionnaire.
“Then I make a plan based on each athlete’s goals,” she said. “I get creative with people.”
“Lindsey has a gift for making you feel like the strongest athlete ever, even on days you’re not so sure of yourself,” Ozimek said. “That confidence boost, before and after race day, keeps me motivated to chase even bigger goals.”
Desai uses a website called TrainingPeaks to keep track of her athletes’ data.
“I analyze the results and they can write comments to me,” Desai explained. It’s appreciated.
“Pinpoint precision with time and effort are what it takes to reach high goals in this sport,” says Danielle Feligno. “Lindsey delivers that.”
Feligno has called Lindsey “coach” for two years and “friend” for much longer.
“Lindsey has a great wealth of knowledge that she has gathered in both practice and education,” Feligno added. “She is always reading about what the trends are, how to recover better and how to remember what your ‘why’ is … I couldn’t ask for a better friend and coach.”
Desai talks nutrition, too and coaches athletes on what to eat before, during and after workouts.
“It’s all about what fits into their lives … These athletes are all busy people who are doing this for fun!” Desai said.
She said she especially loves when her athletes achieve something they have worked toward.
Depending on their goals, her athletes may receive workout plans that require from about eight to 20 hours of training a week.
“It’s definitely not one size fits all. What I’m looking for is improvement,” Desai said. “I always ask my athletes what kind of time they have available, then go from there.”
“I could burn people out, but flexibility is important,” she added.
Desai crafts her own training ritual, too, spending 14 to 16 hours a week working out.
“It’s important to have a plan,” she said. “Doing random workouts is like throwing paint at a wall and hoping it’s a color you like.”
She strives for not being “authoritarian,” but tries to schedule workouts so her athletes are the most recovered and sharp by the day of an event they want to do.
“I try to have a good vibe back and forth with my athletes,” Desai said. “But the athletes also have to be coachable. I always look at whether it’s a good fit.”
Having the right mindset is how athletes can get more out of having a coach, Desai said. She stresses healthier habits, eating well, having a schedule and getting proper rest.
“When you’re mentally fit, too, you feel like you can accomplish more,” she said.
For herself, Desai has found that following a vegan diet, no meat, no dairy, no fish or eggs or anything related to animals, the past 10 years has worked well for her.
“But it [being vegan] is not a religion,” she said. “Everyone needs to find what works for their bodies.”
Luckily, her husband of two and a half years, Nandish, is a vegetarian. “So, we eat similarly,” she added.
Always spirited, she is known to dance at the beginning or end of an event “just because.” She also loves that athletes, like herself, who favor endurance sports are “really a big family.”
“I feel grateful to have athletics as my side gig,” of two and a half years said. She admits it’s becoming a bigger part of her career, too.
“My motto is that I make you beautiful from head (hair) to toe … it’s full circle,” she said with a grin.