Vince Heyd

He has spent the better part of three decades immersed in the sport of running — first as a competitor, then working for global running brands, and for many years now as one of the most trusted crew members and pacers in ultrarunning. He's worked alongside some of the best teams in the world dedicated to pushing the limits of human potential, helping support some of the best athletes on the planet as they've chased down the sport's most coveted FKTs across multiple continents and on the sport's biggest stages. Few people understand the unglamorous, detail-obsessed work of getting someone to a finish line — the gear, the timing, the nutrition, the pacing, the mental game — better than Vince does. He can run race-day logistics, crewing, and pacing with a precision that borders on stealth.

 

But for all the time he's spent around elite performance, Vince's heart has always belonged to the local stuff: the community races put on by friends, the unsanctioned long runs that somehow become traditions, the people who show up not for prize money but because the mountains called them. That's where he feels most at home, and it's the spirit he brings to every athlete he works with.

 

Born and raised on Maui, he has spent the last 20 years based in the mountains of Utah, with detours all over the world. He's usually out wandering somewhere high and remote with his three dogs — Forrest, Edgar, and Charlie — and whatever friends are willing to come along.

 

His coaching is rooted in two things: a genuine love of connecting people to their goals, and a deep curiosity of sports psychology — what's actually happening in the body and brain under stress, fatigue, and pressure. He's less interested in just hitting numbers and more interested in helping athletes understand themselves well enough to know what they're truly capable of, then go find out.

 

He brings hands-on experience, an obsessive eye for logistics, and a genuine belief that the dream is worth following.