Coach First, Tech Second: Tim Surface on Building Final Surge to Save Coaches Time (and Make Athletes Better)

Final Surge: https://www.finalsurge.com (RUNNINGEFFECT20) Tim Surface’s path runs straight through the heart of the sport of running. Tim is a University of Tulsa Academic All-American who kept competing after college, carving out a 2:24:39 marathon at Chicago and logging PRs of 1:09:12 for the half and 30:35 for 10,000m, before channeling that discipline into coaching and product building. Today, from Raleigh, he wears two hats: that of a high-school coach at North Raleigh Christian Academy and co-founder/CEO of Final Surge, where he’s bringing an athlete’s empathy and a coach’s realism to endurance tech. His north star is simple: save coaches time so they can spend it with athletes. That philosophy shows up in practical tools like attendance and roster features for teams, deep device integrations, and a mobile Structured Workout Builder that letscoaches create, edit, and sync sessions on the fly. Tim is here to help guide coaches on how to communicate clearly and keep the human side of coaching front and center. Tim has a great perspective on what high-school athletes truly need in 2025, how to cut noise from data, and where endurance technology is headed next. This is a story of mileage becoming momentum—of a runner who never stopped building—and a playbook for coaches and athletes who want their tools to work as hard as they do. Tap into the Tim Surface Special. If you enjoy the podcast, please consider following us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and giving us a five-star review! I would also appreciate it if you share it with your friend who you think will benefit from it. Comment the word “PODCAST” below and I’ll DM you a link to listen. If this episode blesses you, please share it with a friend! S H O W N O T E S -The Run Down By The Running Effect (our new newsletter!): https://tinyurl.com/mr36s9rs -BUY MERCH BEFORE IT’S GONE: https://shop.therunningeffect.run -Our Website: https://therunningeffect.run -THE PODCAST ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClLcLIDAqmJBTHeyWJx_wFQ -My Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/therunningeffect/?hl=en⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ -Take our podcast survey: https://tinyurl.com/3ua62ffz