I coach people through goals, change, training, and growth — with a whole-person approach grounded in real life.
ABOUT HÉLÈNE
I’m Hélène Dumais — an ACC-ICF Certified Professional Coach, trail and ultra running coach, trainer, and endurance athlete.
For more than 15 years, I have worked with people who want to train, grow, adapt, and move toward meaningful goals through life’s changes.
Some come to me for a race.
Some come because their body is changing.
Some come because they are standing in front of a decision, a transition, or a goal that matters.
The entry point may be different, but the work always comes back to the person.
Not just the plan.
Not just the body.
Not just the problem.
The whole human being inside a real life.
Where my work began
My path into coaching started before I officially called myself a coach.
In 2003, I was introduced to transformational coaching through Landmark Education. That experience opened a door. It gave me language for something I was already curious about: how people see themselves, make choices, move through challenge, and create meaningful change.
A few years later, endurance sport became one of the places where I lived those questions in a very concrete way.
Long-distance hiking had already been part of my life, but around 2009, trail running, obstacle course racing, ultra-endurance events, and more structured athletic training became a bigger part of my path.
Sport taught me things coaching had already pointed toward: performance is never only physical. Yes, the body matters. Training matters. Strength matters. But so do sleep, fear, confidence, recovery, nutrition, environment, relationships, work stress, identity, and the stories we carry about what we can or cannot do.
Over time, those threads came together: coaching, endurance, training, massage therapy, professional coaching, women’s health, and years of working with real people in real lives.
That is the foundation of my work today.
Becoming the kind of coach I was looking for
In many ways, I became the kind of coach I had been looking for.
I wanted a coach who could see the full picture.
Someone who understood training, but also recovery.
Someone who respected ambition, but did not glorify burnout.
Someone who could work with big goals, but still care about the person behind the goal.
Someone who knew that life outside training always affects the training itself.
That became a major influence in how I coach today.
As an athlete, I have stood on more than 50 podiums
As an athlete, I have stood on more than 50 podiums across trail running, obstacle course racing, and self-supported ultra-distance events. I was the first and only woman to finish the Infinitus 888 km race within the 240-hour limit, and I later produced the documentary film Facing Infinitus to explore what draws people toward such demanding challenges.
But my athletic life has never been only about results.
It has been about curiosity, fear, resilience, decision-making, patience, failure, adaptation, and the quiet work of continuing when things become uncertain.
Those lessons shape how I coach.
Not because everyone needs to do extreme things.
They do not.
But because every meaningful goal asks something from us. It asks us to prepare, adjust, recover, choose, and keep learning.
Why I work with the whole person
I do not believe goals exist in isolation.
A race is never only a race.
A career decision is never only a career decision.
A changing body is never only a body.
There is always a person, a history, a schedule, a nervous system, a family, a work environment, a set of habits, and a life around it.
That is why my work brings together coaching, training, education, and real-life strategy.
If an athlete comes to me for trail running coaching, we may still talk about sleep, fueling, stress, strength, confidence, and work-life balance, because those are part of adaptation.
If a woman comes to me during perimenopause or menopause, the work is not only about symptoms or workouts. It is about understanding her changing physiology, building strength, supporting energy and recovery, and creating health habits that can last.
If a client comes for professional coaching, the topic may be personal, professional, athletic, relational, or tied to a life transition. Clear thinking is easier when the whole person is supported.
This is not about making everything complicated.
It is about being honest about what actually affects progress.
Women’s health became personal
My focus on women’s health and fitness grew from both professional curiosity and personal experience.
As I entered early perimenopause, I started to better understand how little many women are taught about their own physiology — and how often training, health, nutrition, and performance advice is still based on models that do not fully consider women’s bodies.
That gap matters.
It affects how women train.
How they recover.
How they eat.
How they interpret fatigue, strength, confidence, body composition, energy, and motivation.
I began studying more deeply, including the work of Dr. Stacy Sims and Dr. Lisa Mosconi, and completed Menopause 2.0 to better support women 40+ in working with their physiology, not against it.
For me, this work is not about fear, quick fixes, or fighting aging.
It is about education, strength, autonomy, and helping women feel more capable in their bodies and lives.
What I bring to the work
My background includes:
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ACC Certified Professional Coach
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graduate of the International Coach Academy
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member of the International Coaching Federation
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certified running coach
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CrossFit Level 2 Trainer
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massage therapist background
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Menopause 2.0
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15+ years of coaching experience
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long-term experience as an endurance athlete
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documentary film producer of Facing Infinitus
My style is practical, honest, curious, and human.
I bring science, structure, lived experience, and coaching skills.
But I also bring the ability to listen, connect dots, ask better questions, and stay with the real person in front of me.
My style is practical, honest, curious, and human.
I care about autonomy. I want my clients to understand what they are doing and why, not simply depend on me for answers.
I care about courage. Not the loud kind. The quieter kind that helps a person tell the truth, make a decision, try again, or choose a path that matters.
I care about kindness. Growth is demanding enough. It does not need to be built on self-criticism.
What I believe
I believe a healthy mind and a supported body work together.
When the body is under-recovered, under-fueled, undertrained, or overwhelmed, it becomes harder to think clearly, make decisions, and move forward.
When the mind is overloaded, fearful, scattered, or disconnected from what matters, the body often carries part of that load too.
This does not mean every coaching conversation becomes about everything.
Sometimes you need a training plan.
Sometimes you need one clear decision.
Sometimes you need to start exercising.
Sometimes you need to recover better.
Sometimes you need someone to help you sort through the next step.
But I will always hold the wider picture in mind.
Because people are not machines.
And progress is not built in a vacuum.
To learn more about my background and work, you can explore:
EXPLORE MORE
Athletic Résumé & Photo Gallery
A detailed list of race results, endurance projects, and athletic highlights.
Media Coverage
Interviews, articles, and features related to my athletic and coaching work.
Facing Infinitus
The documentary film I produced about the Infinitus 888 km race and the human spirit behind ultra-endurance.
Speaking & Workshops
Workshops, clinics, talks, and group education sessions.
