Dr. Jason Karp is enteringhis first season as the assistant cross country coach at San Diego State. Karp,who holds a Ph.D. in exercise physiology and a master[apos]s in kinesiology, brings awealth of experience to The Mesa as a coach, exercise physiologist, personaltrainer and writer.
Karp is also the owner ofRunCoachJason.com, a coaching, personal training and fitness consulting companythat offers science-based coaching to runners of all levels, fitness training tothe public and consulting to coaches and fitness clubs.
Dr. Karp has presented atnumerous conferences, including U.S. Track and Field and CrossCountry Coaches Association, American College of Sports Medicine, AmericanSociety of Exercise Physiologists, IDEA Fitness Fusion, IDEA World FitnessConvention, ECA World Fitness Convention, and the San Diego State UniversityWriters[apos] Conference.
Karp hastaught USA Track and Field[apos]s highest level coaching certification and was aninstructor at the USATF/U.S. Olympic Committee[apos]s Emerging Elite Coaching Camp atthe U.S. Olympic Trainer Center in Chula Vista.
Dr. Karp also founded and isthe host of the VO2max Distance Running Clinic for runners, coaches, and fitnessprofessionals, the San Diego Personal Training Summit for personal trainers, andRunning Clinics in the ParkTM, a series of running clinics forrunners of all abilities.
Karp is a prolific writer,with over 100 articles published in numerous international coaching, running,and fitness trade and consumer magazines, including Track Coach, Techniques for Track & Field and Cross Country, New Studies in Athletics,Running Times, Runner[apos]s World, Marathon & Beyond, Fitness Management, IDEA Fitness Journal, PTontheNet.com, Shape, Oxygen, SELF, Maximum Fitness, and others. He isalso author of How to Survive Your PhD (Sourcebooks, 2009).
In 1997 atthe age of 24, Dr. Karp became one of the youngest collegiate head coaches inthe country when he led the Georgian Court University (N.J.) women[apos]s crosscountry team to a regional championship en route to being named the NAIANortheast Region Coach of the Year. During that time, he was also a personaltrainer and a hospital fitness specialist.
After movingto San Francisco, Karp coached two high school teams, where he guided numerousathletes to city championship titles and with marks that qualified for the statechampionship. Dr. Karp also coached the elite women[apos]s Impala Racing Team andrecreational marathon runners for San Francisco Fit®.
As a privatecoach and founder of REVO2LT Running TeamTM,he has coached everyone from a first-time race participant to an Olympic Trialsqualifier.
A competitiverunner himself, Karp is sponsored by PowerBar as a member of PowerBar TeamEliteTM.
Dr. Karp received his Ph.D.in exercise physiology with a physiology minor from Indiana University in 2007,his master[apos]s degree in kinesiology from the University of Calgary in 1997 andhis bachelor[apos]s degree in exercise and sport science with an English minor fromPennsylvania State University in 1995. His research has included motor unitrecruitment during eccentric muscle contractions, post-exercise nutrition foroptimal recovery in endurance athletes, training characteristics of OlympicMarathon Trials qualifiers and the coordination of breathing and stride rate inhighly trained distance runners.
Karp[apos]s research has beenpublished in the scientific journals Medicine and Science in Sports andExercise, International Journal of Sport Nutrition and ExerciseMetabolism, and International Journal of Sports Physiology andPerformance. Dr. Karp has taught exercise physiology and biomechanics atseveral universities and taught in the fitness certificate program at theUniversity of California-Berkeley. Currently, Karp is adjunct faculty at MiramarCollege in San Diego, where he teaches applied exercise physiology.