...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’

Happy Team BSC Scottsadale Camp Eve!

It's less than 24 hours away.

Team BSC Scottsdale Camp.  My 2nd camp with this amazing crew.  My first as a coach.  EIK!!!  We have some amazing bat shit crazy sessions planned, (many thanks to Krista for all of her planning)! There will be an amazing speaker, a Mt. Lemmon climb (and the obligatory cookie), and we have a MAJOR surprise for our athletes!  I am so excited!!!!

I have not done much outside riding this year...thanks ol man winter and me turning into a wimp in the cold.  #ihatethecold  Later this week...I will have 12 hours of saddle time planned in 3 consecutive days.  Talk about a pain in the ass.  I'll be hurting for sure.  But the benefits of training camp is the huge fitness boost one gets when all has been accomplished.  I'll need it.  Race season is just around the corner for me.

This has been a stressful past couple of months for me and nothing will heal my soul more than 5 days with friends who are just as BSC as I am.  Riding long will help clear my head and get me motivated for the season ahead!  I've had to majorly adjust my race schedule, but there is still an IM on the books for this year...and maybe 2. ;)  Time to get moving!!

Cheers to BSC camp #2!!!

Kansas 70.3 Race Report

Emma-Kate Lidbury @ the Oread meet and greet Friday night...ignore my squinty face.

This race is one of my favorites, not only is it in my backyard, but it's THE BEST when it comes to the race director/volunteers/spectators, etc.  Plus, it's my training ground.  #homecourtadvantage

Camping
The race is located at Clinton State Park.  The run is 2 loops throughout the campgrounds.  I've debated the past several years on camping.  Even though it's only a 15' drive from my house, it's one way only into the park so the traffic gets backed up pretty quick.  That with the 1/2 mile walk to T1, it makes for an early morning.  So, this year I decided to have fun with this race and camp.  Although my sleep pattern was a bit messed up, it was the best idea!  Being at the race venue early enough to rack my bike (they allowed race day bike check-in due to some storms that rolled in Sat. night) and set up T1 & T2, hang out at the campsite, bathroom, etc. was so much nicer not having to rush around and it's quite convenient having everything I needed basically @ T2.

What a view...Can you see my house in the background?  Yeah, that's the view I'm referring to...;)

Swim
With no rush getting to the swim start, I was pretty calm.  Weird for me for pre-race as this is usually my panic mode.  I got in the water with the plan to bust ass.  Of course I lined up behind my so freaking fast BSC training partner Lynsey.  A couple of 'good lucks' and we were off.  It was pretty choppy heading out the first leg and I was either running into folks or they were running into me.  Nasty...but for some reason I wasn't ready to raise the white flag like I usually do at the swim start.  Yay!  That's progress right there!  All I could think of was 'get your ass moving..you just swam a 10k in worse conditions...keep going!'  I took a second to check my watch at ~ the halfway mark and saw I was capable to pull of my goal swim time of 35'.  Seriously folks, this is the infamous 35' mark I've been shooting for, for like ever.  My swim times here have been pretty slow (think 40' and 40'+).  With nothing to lose, I just SWAM!  Unfortunately we had to swim around the previous waves and the younger guys were swimming over me, but I knew I was still in the game if I kept moving.  And before I knew it, I was done!

I was stoked when I saw my garmin with the time of 35:11 (19th AG) my day was made.  Finally!!! 

Bike
I love this bike course, I'm on it every weekend.  Lot's of hills, wind, heat...perfect!!  I really surprised myself on this bike.  My watts (power on the bike) stayed well above where I thought I'd race, but I felt good, so I kept it up.  I stayed on top of my nutrition.  It proved me well @ IMAZ so I took in 1.5 scoops of infinite/3 bottles, 2 powerbar gel packs, ~2/hour e21.  There were a lot of guys around me...of course several who couldn't get chicked, but there were others who hollered out encouragement (which is awesome btw, guys take note).  There were several stud women who I attempted to keep in my sight, but man there were some fast girls out there!!! 

Kept my head held high and worked hard the whole time...only felt a twinge of a cramp at the dam(n) hill coming back into the park.  I was a bit worried if I had blown out my legs, but I popped another e21 and kept on.

2:43:39 (10th AG)  Almost 2 minutes faster than my goal time and 7' fast than LY.  I was convinced I was going to have a good day.  Now would my run legs show up after that bike...

See that smile?  That's cause I eat that hill for hill repeats regularly.

Run
Oh the run.  This has been my nemesis for years now.  It can really eat you up and spit you out if you aren't prepared.  This year was GOING to be different.  I planned for the heat and the hurt.  I made sure I was out on the race course regularly prepping for this one.  I knew every turn, hill, shade spot on that course...mentally I had hurt here many times before.  I had this one.

My run had been pretty strong leading up to the race.  I had some confidence.  And I had a plan.  Since the heat has gotten to me in the past, I decided to be proactive and start cooling off at mile 1.  Ice down the top/shorts/hat (hat vs. visor so I could do this...see?  planned).  This run course is so rad cause of the spectators.  Every turn there are folks lined up cheering for you.  And since I had planned this one out, I knew where my family and friends would be...AT OUR CAMPSITE!  yeah!!!  They were the best, really.  Diana had my favorite songs on the ipod to pump me up!  My friend Kelly was at the top of the nasty hill.  Being a local, I knew the folks at the aid stations.  It was sooo cool!  A huge thanks to everyone for being out there!  The spectator and volunteers really make this such an awesome race.  I digress.  Nutrition, I took water/ice/coke @almost every aid station.  Gu @ mile 3 and 9ish (I actually almost forgot to take the 2nd one, I was feeling that good, or the heat was starting to get to me ;)) e 21 ~ 4 throughout the run.

I was hurting, but for some reason I was able to keep pushing.  It was going to be over soon.  It was supposed to hurt, it's a race and I had trained for this.  I could stop when it was done, NOT before.  Plus, I'm super motivated by the numbers and I was on track to hit my fastest 13.1 in a 70.3.  I was about to have a major break through race!  Nothing moves me more than that.

I don't know who took this photo, but I love it!!

1:49:56 (11th AG)
5:13:38 (compared to 5:36 LY)  Woah.  This turned out to be a PR in this distance by ~3', course PR by ~23'.

Still on cloud nine thinking about race day.  Super motivated now to hit another milestone (hopefully later this summer).  I have some serious competition out there in my AG.  These women are just STUDS.  Super proud to be among them.  Top 6 in my AG this year were <5 hours...holy smokes that A LOT of fast women.  I was 12th AG last year with 5:36 and I was 11th this year with 5:13...we are ALL getting faster and that's pretty cool. 

Super stud and teammate Lynsey...Vegas baby!  She rocked it out there!

Could leave without saying hello to Hines!

Smashfest Queens representing

A huge thanks to everyone who supports me and my 'crazy..why do you train so much training' day in and day out.  You know who you are.  You are near and dear to my heart and I am so grateful you are in my life.  Thank you to Sunflower Bike Shop for all the love you give to my dear Ali.  Michelle thank you for instilling this bat shit crazy mentality in me...I love being your athlete and a part of this team.

For this moment, right here, be grateful.  #always