...not too shabby...

I cannot believe I am just now actually posting this...I wrote this the day after the marathon!!  Almost a month ago!  Sigh...#worstbloggerever

Towards the end of Scottsdale BSC camp I was starting to get a bit nervous about the looming marathon I had the following weekend.  We all kind of joked around that I was really *nailing* the taper.  Although coach and I experimented with this 'kind of taper' last year following Kona camp...it worked then.  Maybe I do better on tired-ish legs?

After returning from camp, I went back and forth in my head where I should line up.  My run training had been consistent.  The majority of the training was all done by HR.  We really didn't even get that much speed work in as this winter was a tough one (in more ways than one).  I wasn't sure what I'd have in me.  When I wrote down my goals at the beginning of the year I wanted to crack 3:45.  That isn't my BQ time (3:40), but it was a manageable number (@ least in my head) for me to hit.  My previous open marathon time was 3:58 and change. 

I had conversations with my coach and my run PIC and I decided to bite the bullet and stick with my original plan.  I often get annoyed with folks *throwing in the towel* before they even try to tackle their goals so there was no way I wasn't @ least going to try.  My confidence was a little low, so I promised myself that if I couldn't keep the 8:35 pace it was NBD.  I had nothing to prove.

I went to high school in STL.  I figured I would run into at least someone I knew and I did!  Always fun to see friends from back in the day, especially LIVE AND NOT ON FACEBOOK!  There were several others I had hoped to see/talk to but with that crowd I was thankful to see at least one!  Congrats to Shawn and his race!

The short and sweet race recap is that I hung out with the 8:45 group until mile 23 ish.  Then the wheels fell off.  I had to slow up.  I was actually kind of devastated watching them run into the distance but I was hurting.  EVERYONE starts hurts at mile 20 (if you're pushing it) and I tried to keep my thoughts positive and not to slow down too much!  I worked way too hard for 23 miles to slow down the last 3!  It was all mental at that point.  Every time I race I am AMAZED at how strong our minds are.  We can use that strength to help or hurt...one has to choose which way to go.  My new favorite quote from Naomi Judd...

"your body HEARS everything your mind SAYS"

Once I saw the mile 24 sign, I decided to pick up the pace.  The pain is much more manageable knowing it would only last MAX 17-20 minutes right?  I crossed the line at 3:47 and change, 13 in my AG and with a BIG ASS grin on my face.  Not too shabby.  I couldn't have been happier!  Almost a 12' PR and only 2 + min slower than goal time. 7' from a BQ.

hey body, ya hear that?...not too shabby...

...you are stronger than you think...

Camp thoughts…where do I even begin? 

I have attended numerous tri camps in the past 6 years…this was my first time as a coach.  How different it all is.  There is so much that goes on behind the scenes, I’ve never been so grateful for everything my past camp coaches have done to get all the logistics in place than I am right now.  It’s tough work…getting SAG bought and set up, marking courses, organizing travel, showering @ 9:30 pm, meeting and socializing with the other athletes, AND making sure you are taking care of yourself (i.e. feeding hydrating, etc.) WHEW! 

BUT here’s the deal…IT IS ALL WORTH IT!  We had some MAJOR breakthroughs this week…seeing the athletes overcome fears, getting comfortable being uncomfortable, climbing mountains in PR record time…all the exhaustion of planning and organizing goes right out the window.  I am not sure Krista and I could be any more PROUD and satisfied than we are right now.  I would call this camp a HUGE success.

We had an incredible group of athletes this year.  Such a dynamic and diverse group, different athletic abilities, different ages.  We had local Scottsdale athletes, a couple east coast, west coast and several of us from the midwest…many will become friends for life.  Everyone stepped up and put their best foot forward and worked hard.  That’s the point of camp right?  Spend 4-5 days out of your routine; build a big fitness base and WORK HARD.  And that we did…

Thursday was an easy ‘optional’ run.  I put optional in quotes because everyone ran it.  Easy social jog, we didn’t want any matches being burned…we had a big week in front of us. 

Even Baxter needed to hydrate!

The Monday before camp, our coach Michelle was having major FOMO and decided to hop on a plane from Hawaii and join us!  She asked Krista and I to keep it a secret so she could surprise her athletes.  That was a tough secret to keep!  We were all super excited about her arrival late Thursday pm!!   (Needless to say her other athletes were super surprised and excited to see her!  Read her camp blog here!)

Me, Michelle, Krista...BSC coaches!

Our version of pillow service for coach Michelle!

Friday morning was a BIG day…huge.  A long bike to Bartlett Lake, a ~40 min OWS in Bartlett Lake then a 14 mile CLIMB out of the lake (where we spotted IM world champ Rinny and Tim) then enjoy the decent ride home.  It would have been about an 80-mile day, except Jen Sparkles and I decided to ride to Cave Creek and added another 12 miles to our day.  Why not, right?  Actually we I missed our turn…my bad.  ;)

Coach and sparkles :)

Either way it worked out perfect.  It was a tough ride and with a little coaxing of the bodies with nutrition, we all pushed through.  Krista and I were able to see some folks pushing their bodies and most importantly their minds…

’you are stronger than you think’

Barlett Lake!

My friend and inspirational speaker, Jenne Fromm so kindly agreed to take some time out of her Friday evening to virtually ‘hang’ out with us and teach us a little bit of how our minds work both for us and against us.  As usual she changed a couple peoples lives that night.  Everyone should check her out here! She’s quite an amazing individual.  I am honored and proud to call her my friend.

We had an ‘easier’ day on tap for Saturday.  ‘Just’ a 3-hour ride, including a jaunt up 9-mile hill.  Pacing and nutrition was key for this ride, especially since we had a mountain to climb the next day.  Krista and I each rode with a different group.  My group practiced pace lines on our way to the climb, super fun when you don’t ride with a big bike group very often!  Once we got to the bottom of the hill our strategy was this…spin to about mile 5, then add a couple of gears, @ mile 8 ATTACK and catch the front group.  And holy shit, we did it.  PERFECT pacing...

’you are stronger than you think’

Solid bunch of athletes!

Off the bike we had a 4-mile run.  We asked everyone to stay inside themselves for the first 2 miles and negative split this run.  It’s a lot harder to do this as most feel really good off the bike and are ready to charge.  It was noon in the desert and the false flat on the way home made for the negative split to be a SOLID challenge.  I think we had an almost 100% success rate.  A quick 3k swim shower and we had ourselves another HUGE deposit in the bank.

Sunday was the day I had been waiting for…for literally YEARS.  The EPIC Mt. Lemmon climb.  We got up early and caravanned the 2 hours down to Tucson.  Having never had experience Mt. Lemmon, I knew had to pace myself and needed to convenience the others to do the same.  WOW.  What an experience.  It was exactly what I had imagined it would be.  HARD.  BEAUTIFUL.  FUN.  And 2 hours and 45 minutes later, I was at the cookie cabin...
 

’you are stronger than you think’

Me, Krista and Sippy!  At the top of the Mnt.

Not too long after that, we were ALL eating cookies and pizza.  It was so amazing to see our athletes push the limits especially mentally and literally arrive at the top.  It’s a feeling that brings tears to your eyes when thinking about the metaphor of climbing a mountain, on a bike, by yourself.  

Pizza, Cookie and Sparky!!!

Then we had to get down.  It would be quick (time), it would be fast (speed), and it would be in a wind storm/headwind.  I am not the best/comfortable descending, but holy shit THAT was fun.  We had a couple athletes VERY hesitant to descend and one actually wasn’t going to, she wanted to ride in the SAG wagon down, but Shane with his negotiation skills convinced her he would leap frog with her down.  She drank the cool-aid and we once again had a 100% success rate of both the climb and the descent... 

’you are stronger than you think’

And all of a sudden it was Monday the last day of camp.  L  We had a l5 mile route and a 10 mile route planned for the group.  How would our legs feel after 190 miles of riding 14k feet of climbing?  Would they show up to play?  But of course they did!  I think everyone was a bit sore/tired, but the run got done.  Krista and I had terrorized marked Paradise Valley in a delirium the night before… & the route was absolutely stunning at sunrise.  Such a joy to be there…running.  Especially after the days leading up to it, there were little to no complaints had by any.

Sparkle and Kelly selfie!

Another quick swim and we were done!  (both literally and figuratively)  It was bittersweet at that point.  I didn’t know if the sadness was actually fatigue or if I was terribly sad it had to come to an end.  I think it was a combo of the two!  

Thanks Planet Sun for protecting us all week!!

Camp was a huge success!  Krista gets all the credit!  She worked super hard with figuring the logistics of the rides/runs.  This camp wouldn't have been without her.  She is a solid athlete and an even more amazing coach.  She's been a rock in my world and I am incredibly thankful to have her in my life.  Thank you Krista!!  You are amazing and I am so thankful for our friendship!

Thanks recoverye21 for our CUTE camp tanks!

I also must thank all of the athletes for working so hard and pushing themselves to the limit.  THANK YOU!  They deposited a huge amount of fitness into their ‘bank’ $$cha-ching$$ and it will come in handy very soon ;)   I wish everyone the most success in 2014.

Thank you to Shane and June.  We really couldn't have asked for a better SAG crew!  Water, nutrition, directions, photos, motivation, you name it - they had it ready for us.  We really couldn't have asked for a better support system.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

And last but not least, THANK YOU to our sponsors!!

Recovery e21 - Amazing product.  This stuff has gotten me through the most grueling training rides/runs and 2 Iroman.  Good stuff.  Get it.

Planet Sun - Did I mention not one person got burned in the desert sun?  Not a ONE!!  This stuff is top notch along with the people/company that run it.     

And here I am.  On the plane…revisiting the past 5 days.  Sad, excited, motivated, ready to race, experience new things, new challenges.  I never thought I would be doing what I love, not only as an athlete but now as a coach!!!  I am so inspired and excited to keep the momentum going.  The love and support I have within this community is crazy strong and I am incredibly blessed and thankful to have TeamBSC as my friends and family. 

...until next time, remember ’you are stronger than you think’

MAF Training

Michelle has had me training by HR from day 1.  I loathed HR training until she really got me to understand the importance.  Now that I am diving into the world of coaching, I thought I ought to do my own research and put down my own thoughts on the subject.  Michelle had been having me use the maximum aerobic function MAF method of HR training.  Here's link to the article on MAF-test straight from the MAN himself Dr. Phil Maffetone.  (my next post will be on my personal progress using this method)

One of the reasons I've not been put on the sideline for too long in my IM training is the use of MAF training...i.e. knowing if you are running too hard too often...which is a recipe for injury and illness.  Injuries and sickness are much less likely to occur when you are not running your body into the ground day in and day out.  And the key to having consistency and progress in training/racing is avoiding both of these.  Avoid those niggles and visits to the doc and you avoid setbacks in your training.  PROGRESS!!


MAF training also measures if you are actually running EASY enough.  IMO I see too many people running too hard too often and completely ignoring their 'recovery' runs.  Your body reaps so many benefits due to these recovery runs.  Ah RECOVERY.  When one pushes through and keeps running HARD instead of backing off, you burn the candle on both ends.  HR training keeps you from blowing that fuse. 

Want to get faster?  Slow down.  Build that aerobic base.  This occurs when one actually runs within their HR zone.  This could be SLOW, painfully SLOW.  In fact, you may have to walk when first staring out.   Gah!  I'd be a $$ rich RICH $$$ lady if I had a nickel for every time I've heard, "it's SO painful for me to run slow."  I actually LOVE running slow...I love it because I'm able to BUST out proper speed work when it's on my schedule because I'm RECOVERED.  It's been proven time and time again, building the base = the speed will come once your aerobic capacity improves.   The benefit of this base build is the ability to run FASTER at the SAME effort, meaning the same heart rate.  This type of training is best to be done NOW, during the *off-season*.  Once that base is built it provides a FOUNDATION for speed/strength work that comes later in the season  Without this base getting into the anaerobic sessions is like "building a house on sand".

 In addition there's a bunch of science that shows you will loose some body fat as well...uhh, ok *bonus*!

Ok, the test!!!  I snagged this from LUCHO .  I'm pretty sure he's the the KING of MAF training.

1. Take 180 and subtract your age.
2. Take that number and correct it by the amount next to the statement that best describes your level of fitness:

• a. Subtract five beats if you are recovering from a major illness or injury that has kept you from training for six months or more.

• b. Leave the number where it is if you have been working out about two to three days per week for at least a year.

• c. Add five beats if you have been working out more than three days per week for at least a year.

• d. Add 10 beats if you have been working out more than five days per week for at least five years without recurring colds, illnesses, injuries or long periods of burnout.

• e. If you are older than 55 years old or younger than 25 years old, add an additional five beats to whatever number you have right now.

Once you have your target HR let's get to the good part RUNNING...

Perform the MAF Test on a track, running at the maximum aerobic heart rate. A one- to five-mile test, with each one-mile interval recorded, provides good data. The test should be done following an easy 12–15 minute warm up, and be performed about every month throughout the year. *I'm having my athletes perform the 5 mile test as they have some miles under their belt.


While training, create a range of 10 beats below the maximum aerobic heart rate; example, if your target HR was 145, train between 135 and 145 staying as close to 145 as possible. To develop the aerobic system most effectively, all training should be at or below this level during base building. As the aerobic system develops, you will be able to run faster at the same maximum aerobic heart rate.1

GOT IT? :)

Here are some FUN READS on MAF testing and TRAINING.

Mama Simmons

Miss Zippy

Sock Doc

get a hold of me @kelgunn@gmail.com with any additional questions!!

Kona 2013...The SWIM - THE GOOD

Race report!  Only 2 weeks post race!  I'm breaking it into 3 posts...

Purposely I arrived to the start way early, like before transition even opened!  I was like 3rd or 4th in line!!  I hate rushing pre-race.  My awesome sister/sherpa calmed me through the madness while the rest of the family parked.   Bag drop, getting numbered, the whole shebang.  It like a cattle call.  Michelle got a panic call, WHAT IS A PRE-RACE BAG?!?!?...IS THAT LIKE A MORNING CLOTHES BAG?!  Hysterical.  I ran into a fellow KCer Jason in transition and had a pep chat with him.  Once I had all my bags dropped off, bottles on my bike I was able to hang out with my family and soak it all in.  :)

I got in the water as quickly as I could as I wanted to get to my spot and 'chill' for a bit.  SOAK IT UP, I told myself, YOU MAY NEVER HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY TO DO THIS AGAIN.  I lined up way left (away from the buoy line) as I had no desire to get the sh*t kicked out of me.  I had no place to line up with those folks on the buoy line. I may have had to swim a bit further but for cleaner water I was all for it.  I laid on my back and fought back tears looking at the athletes, the spectators, just soaking up the vibe.  What a powerful moment, it will NEVER be forgotten.  THE DRUMS, oh my the drums.  Michelle had told me to expect them.  It gets my heart racing just thinking about it.  Yet, I was eerily calm...the nerves weren't there at all.  I had poured my heart and soul into getting to this exact spot.  I had made it, I had actually made it.  With my own body (and the support of so many of my friends and family), I had made it.  What a powerful thing.  It was go time. 

The cannon went off and so did the ~2k athletes.  I can't wait to see the NBC coverage.  The photos online look amazing.  In the mix, all I saw were bubbles.  Lots and lots of bubbles.  It was NUTS.  The water in Kona is crystal clear and all of the bubbles were quite the sight!  I am not sure if it was the lack of nerves or what I was feeling, but about a minute into the swim I got AGGRESSIVE.  Now this isn't a regular IM swim.  You're swimming with the best of the best.  These guys/gals have done this a ton of times.  So the madness isn't AS bad, almost a polite madness.  I decided to swim my heart out.  I found some feet and stuck on them like glue.  In tri, you can legally draft in the swim and it saves A TON of energy.  People started to swim over me and 'pull' me off MY feet...oh no ya don't.  I was like a jealous crazed ex-girlfriend.  I kept my arms wide to keep other women off MY big strong feet.   It was super fun!  I've NEVER had a fun swim in this distance.  Oh and I saw the diver photogs!!!  How cool was that?  I've always wondered what it would be like to see them.  I cry just thinking about it.  :)  At some point on the way out I actually looked up to sight (I only did this a couple of times, you actually don't even need to!) and saw that I was right on the buoy line.  I suppose with that many people it becomes a vortex...it sucked me right into the line I didn't want.  What do ya do?  I hung on for dear life.  I got to the first turn buoy in 30 minutes.  Holy cow I was having a hell of a swim, for me.  (hm, maybe all that swimming this year paid off?)  Motivated to swim a sub 1:10, I kept on strong feet.  Rumor had it there was a southern swell...turned out not to be an actual rumor.  I did my best to keep on someones feet.  Funny, I 'experimented' a bit scooting off the feet a bit and feeling I far back I would fall...bust ass to get back on the said feet and then be ALL OVER THEM.  Yup, drafting actually works! 

And like that...it was done.  Over.  1:10 and some change.  PR IM swim IN KONA.  VERY happy girl.  So happy that I ran into transition, quickly changed, ran right on out without even seeing the volunteers with the sunscreen...oops!

A little pre-race meditation time with my sister.

This WILL be mine...soon!  So in LOVE!

How amazing is my mom for creating team Harvey uniforms? 

Bike Check in

I love all my signs!!!!

Lovely Moana!!!  This is my coach's daughter.

Champions

Champions do not become champions when they win the event, but in the hours, weeks, months and years they spend preparing for it.  The victorious performance itself is merely the demonstration of their championship character. ~T. Allen Armstrong

2 sleeps until Kansas 70.3!  I'm feeling good.  No major nagging injuries...for now.  :)  I've been fighting some shoulder 'issues' but with a couple of massages/ART work I think they are good to go.  I'm biking and running pretty strong right now.  But this race has a way of chewing me up and spitting me out.  What will the day bring?  Heat, hail, wind?  I'm mentally prepped for the worse.  I've put in the work.  I need to go out there and hurt, suffer...cause in the end it'll all be worth it.  It always is.

Dreamin' Big

where has the time gone?!

I'm excited, scared, nervous, anxious, etc. etc. etc. Just like (almost) everyone else before their IM!

I am most excited to run across that finish line with a giant smile...no matter what the clock says (as long as it's 16:xx and change of course :)).  Seriously, I've had a ball this season.  An awesome new coach, close friends to train with, several PR's scattered around...I'll have nothing to complain about when crossing that finish line.  I'll have my family and friends waiting for me and for that I'm stoked.  I've not ever worked as hard as I have this year.  AND IT'S BEEN FUN.  *insert cheesy grin here*

All that being said, I still have big dreams, big goals, FAST expectations. why shouldn't I?   I've never heard anyone say 'Don't reach for the stars...they are waaayyyy the f up there....you're arms aren't long enough to grab one'.

To those who don't like MY big dreamin'.  I'll get my star.  It may not be on the 18th, but the 18th won't be my last try.  Thank you very much.  You've fueled my fire, you've motivated me that extra step closer to my star.  So if you don't mind, I'll keep dreamin' BIG.

.