Renowned Sports Scientist and Kona champion joins team
Meet Dan Plews, who’s joined our Coaching Logic team as a Sports Scientist. He’s just completed his second IRONMAN World Championship at Kona, shaving more than 45 minutes off his original time in 2015 and finishing top of his age group. Awesome, Dan!
The Coaching Logic team is the innovation and ideation arm of our business, and an integral part of Performance Lab. We’re excited to have someone of Dan’s calibre working with us!
“Dan is the real deal. He’s a fantastic athlete, one of the top Sports Scientists in New Zealand. He really he lives it.” — Jon Ackland, co-founder, Performance Lab.
Originally from England, Dan came to New Zealand in 2011. He has a PhD in Sports Science where he studied heart rate variability and how it could be used to guide training. At Performance Lab, his role involves thinking of concepts and ideas, which are then prototyped and validated. It’s a role that requires making sense of data, thinking big and asking the all-important “what ifs”.
There is so much activity data being collected in the world — where does it all go? How can it be presented in a more meaningful manner? How can we change people’s behaviour for the better?
Dan draws from his expertise in the field as an athlete, his background in academia and experience as a coach to help us answer those questions.
“He’s got a great mix of theory and real-world experience. He’s not afraid to chase down things that will change peoples’ exercise outcomes for the better” — Jon Ackland, co-founder, Performance Lab.
Sporting background and coaching expertise
Dan has competed in the sport of triathlon since he was 9 years old. His Kona experience in October was his 6th full IRONMAN!
Outside of Performance Lab, Dan works with Canoe Racing New Zealand, coaches IRONMAN athletes and looks after Masters and PHD students at AUT. He was also the head of Physiology and Sports Science for Rowing New Zealand for 8 years, working with elite athletes at the Olympic level.
Tying it all together
For Dan, the role at Performance Lab represents the perfect combination of technology, coaching and science.
“We’re almost changing the face of wearable technology in sport. We’re making a difference.” — Dan Plews, Sports Scientist, Performance Lab
He often gets inundated with coaching requests by other athletes. The great thing about working at Performance Lab means he can help on a huge scale, essentially by working with the team here to put a coach’s brain into our ARDA products.
Make sure check out Dan chatting with Spike-FREE on Facebook Live, sharing some insights on his build to Kona focusing on LCHF nutrition. Sunday, November 4, 2018 at 5 AM — 6 AM UTC+08 (10:30AM, NZT)
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