Community Highlights: Meet Alex Wilkinson of Wilkinson Private Coaching, LLC

Today we’d like to introduce you to Alex Wilkinson

Hi Alex, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
My story goes back to high school.

From the age of 3 I was a soccer player. When I moved to Taiwan, I was a soccer player. When I came back to the U.S., I was a soccer player. When we moved to North Carolina, I played rec soccer and the next year made to lowest travel team for CASL (premier white). The next year I moved up to Elite White (skipping a level), and the following year I was on ECNL, the top team.

Unfortunately, my freshman, sophomore, and junior years I had 3 contact ACL tears, meaning someone had taken out my knees. The first and second time I came back stronger and faster than ever and was being recruited by top 50 D1 schools, but then the third one happened and I decided playing wasn’t worth a possible fourth.

My junior year, before my third ACL injury, I ran cross country to get in shape for the spring soccer season as I was coming back from surgery. I ended up being one of the top runners on my team, having run a 19:57 in my first ever 5k cross country race.

My senior year of high school I started running cross country and track as my main sport. I ran a good enough time in the 800m to walk on to North Carolina State University’s track and cross country teams.

Even in college I struggled a lot with injury, to the point I only ran in two races and they were two of the slowest times I’d ever ran, including high school times.

After I stopped running in college I started running on my own time. I started doing strength training, cross training, and running in a way that kept me healthy. I ran my first ever half marathon in March of 2022 at the Tobacco Road Half Marathon, in a time of 1:23. I was the sixth overall female and first in my age group. That was the first time I had ever run that far.

In May of 2022, I started my first full time job as a T.V. news reporter for Spectrum News 1. In July, I moved out to the coast where I covered the Wilmington and coastal areas for my station.

I took a part time job coaching at the high school near by and in a year went from a volunteer coach to assistant coach to the head coach of the 4A program at the age of 23.

I decided to expand my coaching and started my private coaching business taking on clients to help them reach their goals. My first ever client came to me running roughly 10min/mi pace for a 5k. She had the goal of running under 2 hours in the half marathon and in just a few short months I helped coach her to 1:47:55 half marathon (8:15min/mi pace).

In March/April of 2024 I began posting reels on Instagram and in a few short months built my following to over 30 thousand followers with multiple reels over 1million views.

I decided to get certifications in my coaching to help be more knowledgeable. I have my running coach certification, CPT, Nutritionist certification, online coach certification, strength and conditioning certification, and my USATF Level 1 Coaching certification.

I have now taken my coaching and content creation full-time. I specialize in helping athletes run stronger, faster, and healthier!

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It has not been smooth ride. I have had to make a lot of decisions on how to pursue my coaching because the truth is, there isn’t enough time in the world to do everything.

That is why I decided to leave the world of broadcast journalism and dedicate my content creation to running, strength, and helping athletes.

I also decided to leave my head coaching job because social media has created opportunities for me to travel, thus making it difficult to be the coach of a high school team.

Social media is a beast in itself, the ups and downs and trying to understand the algorithm, trying to figure out trends before they happen, but most importantly creating a community and helping every single person.

It can be overwhelming at times, but when I get a DM or a comment saying I’ve helped someone through an injury it makes it all worth it.

As you know, we’re big fans of Wilkinson Private Coaching, LLC. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
I am an online coach. I create personalized monthly calendars that are specific to my client and their life.

My goal is to help my athletes make running and strength training a life long commitment. My focus is longevity.

I am known for my all around approach to running. I focus on nutrition, strength, and running.

What sets me apart from others is my emphasis on strength training. Because of my 3 ACL injuries in high school, I need to maintain a certain level of strength to even walk without pain. I have found that a lot of injuries in athletes come from a lack of proper strength, muscle imbalances, and weakness in supporting muscles. My social media content address these things and my coaching goes into even more depth with specific workouts.

Something really special to me is my women’s team. In college I struggled with an eating disorder and quickly learned about the harm that underfueling can do to your body, especially as an endurance athlete. I now have a passion for helping females get back their periods, balance their hormones, and heal the eating in order to help them run times they never thought possible.

My team consists of girl wanting to crush the 5k-HM distances, who struggle with the nutrition side of training and their health, who are over coming an eating disorder/unhealthy gut/constant injury/major life changes.

We all train for one specific race each year, this year will be the Battleship Half Marathon in Wilmington. I create each of my athletes their own training calendars specific to their lives and build it around other races they want to do leading up to the big race.

We also do weekly calls to check in with each other and we have a group text to keep each other accountable.

What were you like growing up?
Growing up I was a very outgoing, active, and all over the place. I loved making new friends everywhere I went. I’ve always had a passion for running.

My family loves to tell stories about how they would make me run to trees and stop signs because they loved to watch my running form.

Pricing:

• Running $300/mo
• Strength & Running $500/mo
• Running, Strength, & Nutrition consulting $750/mo
• Running, Strength, & Nutrition Planning $1000/mo
• Nutrition Planning $500/mo

Contact Info:

• Website: https://wilkinsonprivatecoachingllc.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alexandradwilk/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002677411822
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBP3kj2tjvnT_htI_eFngDQ