Kristen Dieffenbach, Ph.D. - Kristen received her Ph.D. in exercise science with an emphasis in exercise and sport psychology from the University of North Carolina Greensboro and her M.S. in physical education with an emphasis in sport psychology from the University of Idaho. She is also a Certified Consultant (CC) with the Association of Applied Sport Psychology and is recognized on the USOC Sport Psychology Registry. Kristen is an assistant professor of athletic coaching education at West Virginia University. Currently, she serves on the USAC Coaching Education Advisory Committee, and is the sport psychology editor for the Performance Conditioning for Cycling. As a performance enhancement consultant and sport psychology educator she has works with coaching education, sport parenting education, and a variety of team and individual athletes from youth developmental through the collegiate and elite levels.

In addition to her academic credentials, Kristen is a certified Elite level USA Cycling coach and a level 2 United States Track and Field (USATF) coach specializing in endurance training. She has coached at the high school, collegiate, masters, recreational, and elite levels.

Her areas of consulting and education concentration include performance enhancement, talent development and overtraining and underrecovery issues. She has worked on grants, projects, and consultations for the United States Olympic Committee (USOC), USA Cycling (USAC), United States Tennis Association (USTA), Carmichael Training Systems (CTS), and USA Water Polo. She has written for applied publications such as Olympic Coach, Performance Conditioning for Cycling, VeloNews, Inside Triathlon, and Dirt Rag. Kristen has also served as an expert panelist or consultant for features in publications such as Runner's World, Backpacker, and Adventure Sports Magazine.

A former collegiate runner and cyclist at Boston University, she now competes in road, cyclocross, and mountain bike races but her main emphasis is on endurance and ultra endurance endeavors, especially professional level multiday multidiscipline adventure racing.