Chantelle Robitaille
Director of Coaching
Certifications
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- Master of Science - High Altitude Exercise Physiology
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- PN1 Sports Nutrition Certification
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- NASM Certified Personal Trainer
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- NASM Corrective Exercise
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- Women Are Not Small Men - Dr. Stacy Sims course
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- Perimenopause and Beyond - Dr. Stacy Sims course
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- UESCA Ultrarunning Coach
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- Author of Multiple Published Scientific Works
“My first instinct is always to say YES and figure out how to make it happen. This has translated well working with athletes who have big dreams and goals because I can help them break things down into a plan.”
Chantelle has an M.Sc. in High Altitude Exercise Physiology and certifications in sports nutrition, ultrarunning coaching, and strength training. She has also taken additional courses related to women and endurance sports to understand better how women’s bodies respond (or don’t) to training during their pre and post-menopausal years. Being an ultrarunner and a science nerd, she takes an evidence-based approach to coaching that is suited to the unique physiology and lifestyle of every athlete. She has run ultras at various distances and done multi-day events, stage races, and multi-day personal challenges in the mountains.
Chantelle has always been an active kid from Canada who enjoyed hockey and snow sports. She didn’t run an actual race until she was 25 living in the south of Japan. She got into the adventure racing scene in her early 30s.
Unfortunately, her foray into adventure racing ended when she was hit by a car while walking home from work one day. She was told she would never run a marathon again. A few years after the accident, she moved to the Swiss Alps. Looking out at the mountains and trails from her office window, she decided that if she couldn’t run a marathon, she would run an ultra marathon instead. Six years after the accident, at the age of 39, she ran her first ultramarathon in Ireland and was hooked. It further led to balancing a corporate job with racing and coaching runners preparing for various distances.
Some of the races she has run and coached athletes for:
UTMB races
Swiss Alpine Davos
Mountainman
Trail Verbier St. Bernard
Cortina Trail
Lavaredo Ultra Trail
Trans-Rockies Stage Race
Moab Trail Marathon
Bryce Canyon Ultra
Run Rabbit Run
Leadville 100
Badwater 135
Tour de Monte Rosa
Berghaus Dragon’s Back Race
Manaslu Trail Trace
Big’s Backyard Ultra
Being seriously injured twice in her career, she considers such experiences useful from a coaching perspective because she can help athletes work through the mental aspect of being sidelined from a sport they love. She has traveled to over 50 countries and speaks a few different languages that help her to learn to communicate and empathize with people from many nationalities. She volunteered on a Search and Rescue team for five years and is a volunteer board member for Women in the Tetons, an organization whose mission is to empower all women to seek adventure in the mountains.
Chantelle is the author of multiple published scientific papers and research projects. She did her thesis on “Effects of Delayed Ischemic Preconditioning on Performance and Recovery in Repeated Cycling Bouts,” published as an article on Research Gate (reference below). Her other published scientific published works and research projects are:
1. Personalized Exercise Training Maximizes Comprehensive Training Responsiveness in Adults At-Risk for Cardiovascular Disease on Medicine & Science in Sports &
Exercise
2. The Effect of Detraining after a Period of Training on Cardiometabolic Health in Previously Sedentary Individuals
3. How fast does fitness fade? (ACE-sponsored study)
4. Supporting the Immune Function of Ultramarathon Runners: An Evidence-Based Perspective (research paper)
5. Race Hard, Recover Harder: 5 Strategies for Staying Strong During a Multi-Day Event (research paper)
6. Effects of Ischemic Preconditioning on Performance and Thermoregulation in Trail Runners (research project)
7. Beetroot Juice and Performance in Uphill Skiers (research project)
8. Run for Your Life: Surviving the world’s most challenging ultramarathon (public seminar, WSCU Center for Wellness and Human Performance)
9. Living the High Life: Cardioprotective Benefits of Living at Altitude (public seminar, WSCU Center for Wellness and Human Performance
10. Personalized Exercise Training Maximizes Comprehensive Training Responsiveness in Adults At-Risk for Cardiovascular Disease (poster presentation, ACSM annual
conference)
References:
● Robitaille, Chantelle & King, Akemi & Buchanan, Christina & Dalleck, Lance. (2019). The Effects of Delayed Ischemic Preconditioning on Performance and Recovery in
Repeated Cycling Bouts. 14. 27-43.
● Robitaille, Chantelle A.; Cuddy, Thomas F.; Owen, Abigail L.; Buchanan, Christina A.; Dalleck, Lance C.. Personalized Exercise Training Maximizes Comprehensive
Training Responsiveness in Adults At-Risk for Cardiovascular Disease: 3711 Board #158 June 3 9. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise 49(5S):p 1065, May 2017. |
DOI: 10.1249/01.mss.0000519926.75434.6d
● Nolan PB, Keeling SM, Robitaille CA, Buchanan CA, Dalleck LC. The Effect of Detraining after a Period of Training on Cardiometabolic Health in Previously
Sedentary Individuals. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2018 Oct 19;15(10):2303. doi: 10.3390/ijerph15102303. PMID: 30347735; PMCID: PMC6210016.