Why Running Races are Easy!

Today I laughed, I cried, I got so angry I had to count to 10 in the other room, my heart almost burst from being so full of love, and I adored and fumed over the same person within the same hour.  Welcome to my typical day as a parent.  I feel as though I have been pushed to my physical/ mental limit without even leaving the house.

As a  Professional Obstacle Racer, I'm pushing my body to my physical limits on a daily basis as part of my training.  I find myself having to reach inside and find more drive- convince myself to finish one more rep or meet a set time running around a track.  Once or twice a month I travel to different parts of the country to see if I can go beyond those limits I once thought far enough.  These endeavors are physically, emotionally, and mentally draining.   But they pale in comparison to what I go through on an almost daily basis under my own roof.

I have been blessed with 3 healthy, vibrant, active, independent,  and strong willed children.  They love to run around - especially when they get their second wind right around 8 pm.  They eat every 2-3 hours and will like something you cook one week and not the next.  They have their own ideas on how their day should go, and if you think you know better then prepare for battle.  They know exactly what to say or do to you to push you off the cliff of self control that you are so desperately hanging on to.  They do love their toys (which have the ability to multiply) and need lots of room  to be able to properly conduct their kid fantasy - They prefer the clean rooms and hallways.  They know what is best for themselves and will rightly let you know that.

Compared to this, racing is easy.  I've seen it over and over with my friends with their own kiddos.  They tend to race stronger and harder after they have been endowed with a few bundles of joy.  Want to know the secret?  We have all gone completely insane and have to get our crazy out in some way or another.  My girlfriends all become progressively faster after each child they birth.  Some might say that this is due to more muscle gained/ less fat yada yada yada.  They are wrong.  Parents just add to their level of crazy and have found racing as a way to release it in controlled amounts. 

Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't change one iota of it.  As Charles Dickens says ,"It was the best of times, It was the worst of times".  I have never been happier in my life, or more full of love for and in awe of my 3 munchkins. 

So the next time you see a parent, just give them a knowing wink that you are in on the secret.  If you are a parent, just make sure you keep registering for those races. 

 

Want More?  Here's how I eat on a Mom's schedule

Feature Friday

A little more getting to know me - Click here to read an interview with Kelly Vincent - blogger at Utah Dixie Deals.  Thanks for the love Kelly:)

Feature Friday - Meet TyAnn Clark Utah Dixiedeals.com

 

Drowning over Burpees

Stephanie and I at the finish

I've been eager to get this story out because it is so inspirational.  Stephanie started crossfit less than a year ago, and has since lost around 80 lbs.   As a single mom and awesome friend of mine, when she told me that a Spartan race was on her bucket list, I quickly got her registered for the closest race coming up.  She attended crossfit and my Saturday obstacle course trainings to prepare, and showed up at the starting line.  So without further ado, here is Stephanie's experience at the Las Vegas Super Spartan 2014. 

"She looked straight at me without a scintilla of hesitation and said, 'you can do this Steph'!  I was amazed at the amount of confidence this girl had in me when myself I felt like the biggest loser in the world. I wanted to do this race because I wanted to get out of my head. So much was spinning out of control in my life.

 Monday before the race, I became ill. I started to vomit and had a fever and hives everywhere. BUT - I don’t quit!

"I will run this race," I thought, "I will run it!" TyAnn’s trainings were grueling and I never actually gave my 100 percent partly because I just didn’t believe that I could. I have said it once and will say it again, I don’t know how I can be this blessed to have people see more in me than I see in myself. The night before the race my hives were out of control. I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t sleep. I was a wreck with nerves and stressing about the fool I was about to make of myself. Saturday morning, I went anyway. I am no quitter. I may suck at doing things but I don't quit. 

When the race began, I jumped that wall and I knew, I was in the game. I could hear (trainer) Ann’s voice in my head to keep running. I could hear Matt’s (blackridge trainer) voice in my head to keep going. All I could think about is use my legs, tighten my core, jump the walls. I could hear the voices of my friends telling me to keep going. The walls were the easiest part. Mile four came and my legs decided to give up on me. I thought 'who the boss here'. My legs were cramping so bad that I wanted to walk off and say screw this,  I am no Spartan. I am only human.

I had this thought, Ann, Justin, TyAnn, Jared, they knew I was going to finish, why I couldn’t see what they saw. Before I had any time for self-doubt, I saw the sign. “Three miles left before your free beer.” I said "Screw free beer; I want to jump that fire!!!

Little did I know I was going to come face to face with my nemesis: water. I don’t dive in water; I cannot stand the feeling of water against my throat let alone above my head. I am looking at the obstacle thinking, there goes my next 30 burpees. After 90 burpees, I couldn’t fathom the idea that I had to do another 30. I stood in that pool for 20 minutes talking my way out of it. I looked over and saw the finish line and said, (@#*!) it - Today is a good day to drown.


When I popped on the other side, I started to scream and cry because I couldn’t believe that
I chose drowning over burpees!!!.
 When I crossed that finish line, I was running on pure adrenaline and complete and total joy. I knew it was the beginning of my journey to no longer live comfortable and to harness discipline in my life. My friends were proud and I was really happy that I made them proud. No Blackridge crossfitter should be labeled as a quitter. I made TyAnn proud. She trained me to succeed not to fail and succeeding I did. I don’t know how she planted that idea in my head but I am very very thankful for her. I am thankful the support that I have. I am thankful for that #@$@ race!

I wanna do more, I wanna be more.

Las Vegas Spartan Super - Overcoming obstacles

2007 World Champtionships

One of the reasons that I really love and admire Kara Goucher stems from an article that I once read about her.  For those of you in the dark - she is a Olympic athlete that has competed (and kicked butt!) in distances ranging from the 5000m to the marathon.  She came in 3rd place in her first marathon in New York, posting a time that had beaten the infamous Deena Castor the year before.  Here is the kicker.  Despite being arguably the best Female American Distance Runner of our decade, she constantly wrestles with self doubt.  When she steps up to a line, she still has negative chatter going on in her head.  Voices tell her that she isn't as good as the world class athletes that she races against. 

You can read the full article here - It's a good one!

Well here is my confession - I relate because I struggle with the same thing.  And I say currently struggle because I don't know that it will ever completely go away.  However, I have made HUGE strides in the last year, particularly in the last few months, and I think it's showing in my race results.  I started out the year with 2 x 4th place finishes, and moved up to a 3rd, then 2nd, then 2 x 1sts.  It seems as though the methods I use help me to shut out the chatter and be able to compete like I know I can. If she can conquer it, so can I. 

Spartan Family - Orla Walsh, Margaret Slatcher
TyAnn clark, +Amelia Boone

This year's Las Vegas Spartan ended up in my favor, and I'm thrilled with how my body performed.  Normally going into a race and knowing that I was going to have to compete with people like Amelia Boone and Rose Wetzel would leave me feeling completely nervous and nauseous all week.  Honestly it used to be that bad!  But I was actually relaxed and happy, not allowing the race to consume my thoughts.  Even Fri driving down, I was just looking forward to having a good time with the fam.  SO UNUSUAL!

I'm not gonna lie - I WANTED THIS WIN - BADLY!  Toquerville, UT is 2 hours away, so this was kind of my local race.   I had lots of friends, family, and support in the audience that day, and I wanted to do it for them. I was especially excited to see one of my trainees complete the course.  Click here for her story.
 Images of my kids watching influenced much of my performance!

After the ladies were sent off, a group of 10 or so pushed the pace and fought for running ground.  After the first mile, we were down to 4.  Rose Wetzel, Amelia, Boone, and KK Stewart were the other 3. 

One of the things that helped me in this race was experience in long distance running.  Having run more 10ks to marathons than I can count has helped me to know how much energy to expend in order to have some left at the end.  So when we hit things like the bucket carry, all 3 girls got ahead of me.  I tried to go strong, but not as though I'm finishing a workout for time.  I tried to evenly expend my energy.   Within the next half mile I caught back up.

The Painted Warrior loads his shoes with sand as he

 crushes it down the hill.

The course was actually a last minute change (not on Spartan's part -their last venue was cancelled for them) and I'm sure it won't be the one they use next year.  It was extremely rocky, and at many points we were jumping from rock pile to rock pile over small ditches.   My new Reeboks made specifically for obstacle courses performed amazingly, but nothing could keep out the sand that was dumping in from the top as you ran down hills.  Then we would reach a gravel/sand hill and have to climb.  Kudos to race designer Chad Brooks for managing to squeeze as many "hills" in as possible. 

At this point, we reached something called The Gamble.  We are told beforehand that the longer route is flatter and easier, and the shorter, harder.  I had already decided to go left (short) because it's served well in the past.   It seems I chose correctly because a mile later it was only Amelia, Kk, and I.  Rose unfortunately had gone right and we didn't see her for a while.  Amazingly she did catch back up to KK pretty quickly!


Amelia and I spent the next 6 miles trading off leads.  I would get slightly ahead of her on running, and she would catch back up in most of the obstacles.  I honestly had been hoping just for a place on the podium in this race.  I don't know if I ever believed that I would be on top of that podium.  So when Amelia and I were fighting for first and second, I decided I wasn't going to let her have it.  I was going to fight to the death!  My race mantras were "Be Epic, Inspire, and have Courage" and I kept repeating it.  If my pace on my garmin wasn't what I thought it should be I pushed harder.

We went through tire drags and pulls, tire flips, and a super gnarly barbed wire crawl.

Amelia throws first

At the heavy sandbag carry, Amelia gained some ground ahead of me as this is in her wheelhouse.  But I was right behind at the spear throw.  You can never be relaxed and confident that you've got it in the bag until you pass the final test (and I'm convinced that the spear throw is a mental challenge).  I may have been throwing some negative vibes Amelia's way because she missed it!  And gave us a few (understandably) choice words along with it.  I knew I was going to make it.  The hay bales seemed huge and practically right in from of me.  I delivered!

I seal my fate

One mile left, and I was pushing to the finish to leave no room for doubt.  One more sandbag carry, and Amelia had already finished her burpees when I finished the first lap.  Really??  I could see the finish line and see my friend Justin finishing up right in front of me.  I told him to help bring me in because my energy was failing and he pushed the pace for me. 

Last obstacle that could change my game - Traverse Wall.  You fall off - you get 30 burpees (and I would definitely lose first place).  I took it slow and steady, and made it to the end.

I couldn't suppress the grin on my face as I finished the last barbed wire crawl, water dunk and slippery wall.  I could hear my family cheering and tears came to my eyes.  This was a big win for me!  Amelia came in second and Rose with an impressive comeback in 3rd.

My rock and Love of my Life

Love my mom!

I got to spend the rest of my day watching all my peeps from my crossfit gym and obstacle training group come in.  So many first timers, and so many finding out what "You'll know at the finish line" feels like!

WANNA READ MORE RACE RECAPS?
Follow Amelia and I battling it out at the Atlas Race - Temecula, CA
 

Running Death by Burpees

Death by Burpees

Ok  I've seen workouts involving burpees that are a lot worse (hello Crossfit Games 14.5), but I like this one a lot.  Mostly because I made it up, but also because anyone can do it anywhere.  If you are a hiker, runner, crossfitter, or OCR athlete, use this to learn how to push hard through fatigue. Whether you are at the tail end of a marathon, or running after coming off an obstacle, you will be able to deal with the tiredness easier.     

Vermont World championships
My chest made it down - I promise.

First off, this requires correct burpee form - hands up with jump at the top, chest goes to ground in the push up position (can be done on knees). 

I really like workouts with variety as I go along.  This one is great to add into a longer run. 

Beginners - You can start by run/walking after each burpee  section and/ or starting with fewer burpees.

Intermediate - Run after each burpee section, jog and recover between sets

Advanced - Sprint after burpees, try to maintain race pace through recovery (more of a slower tempo run pace) 

This will be less intense than a track workout which typically have shorter breaks - It's designed to train your legs  to move faster through longer miles.  The 1/2 mile spread is pretty typical obstacle spacing in an obstacle course race.



Begin!
1 mile warm up
30 burpees
30 sec sprint
1/2 mile of recovery (I ran at a 6:45 -7 min mile)
25 burpees
40 sec sprint
1/2 mile of recovery
20 burpees
50 sec sprint
1/2 mile of recovery
15 burpees
60 sec sprint
1/2 mile of recovery
10 burpees
70 sec sprint
1/2 mile of recovery
5 burpees
80 sec sprint
1/2 mile of recovery

Enjoy!

Tapering - The best workout before a race

Tapering - reducing one's training in preparation for a race.  AKA being forced to do less of what one loves for an entire week.

After coming from the running world to obstacle course racing, I'm somewhat surprised at many of the racers' views (or lack there of) on tapering pre-race.  Most have a less favorable view of cutting back.  I get it - It can be the hardest part of your training.   However there are huge benefits to allowing your body to build during the week or 2 before the race.  Studies have shown that you can improve time by 2-8%!

Your goal in a taper week should be to reduce fatigue and maintain fitness- not to have any physiological gains.  You should not be trying to set PRs (personal records).


A running tapering schedule involves cutting out weight lifting up to 2 weeks before, and significantly cutting running miles.  This will not work for obstacle racing. 

The upper body has to have some sort of maintenance program before race day.  The sport is new, and there's not much out there in the way of programs, so I've had to experiment with different taper weeks over the last year. 

Take a look at what I do -
This may or may not work for you, but here is what I do.

***Remember that this is a scaled back version of my typical week. I typically run about 30 miles a week with 3-4 crossfit/strength sessions.  If this looks like one of your hard weeks, do not follow this to a "T".  Reduce miles, do less sets, etc.

***Trying to gain fitness this week will do you more harm than good - It's better to go in undertrained than overtrained. 

***Keep intensity, but reduce sets and reps.


Mon
Full Crossfit class - but will avoid anything that will make me sore (100 heavy deadlifts or something of that sort).  I avoid heavy squats and most leg work as a general rule as well.  I then add 2 sets of 8 reps of heavy Bicep curls, Tricep dips, Bench Press, Pull ups
Practice - spear throw

Tues 
Track workout after warm up, with equal time recovery - 6 miles total
Sprint 2x800m
2x400m
2x200m
Practice -spear throw

Wed
Run - 5 miles - stopping every mile to do 15 burpees
1 set of Pull ups, Tricep Dips, Bicep Curps, Bench Press, Bent over row
Practice - spear throw

Thurs
Easy 3 miles or rest completely depending on how I'm feeling

Fri
Easy 20 min - adding 3-4 x10 sec sprints

Sat
Race!

Remember to hydrate, sleep well, stretch out, eat clean, and relax as well. 

Spectrum 10k Race Report

Spectrum 10k Race Report
I was going to start this blog out saying
"I think I could've done better here" or "Here's where I should've improved" - But quite frankly I'm surprised I did as well as I did. 

I raced the Georgia Atlanta Spartan Sprint last week, and I was still pretty fatigued.  And add to that 3 other races in 6 weeks, I was due for a break.  Two days before the race I tried adding a measely 800 m at race pace into my run, and I was just too breathy to complete it.
Plus, I didn't feel like I had the "fight" in me - It usually takes a few weeks to get that back after racing
So I came in with no expectations (well maybe a little) and a hope to be able to hold a respectable time.
 
You start the race halfway into the BREATHTAKING Snow Canyon Park. 

Seriously Amazing!

A bus shuttled us in, and it was quite nippy at the starting line.  I got a 1 mile warm up in and chugged some MAMA CHIA. 

Standing at the starting line felt a bit foreign - I hadn't ran a 10k, or a non obstacle race, in over a year.  i hadn't trained for this - tempo runs and most street runs weren't even part of my workout anymore.  I stood there with my running center girls - Amber Green, Marci Jacobsen,  Jessica Brazzeel  and it felt good to be part of the "family" again. 

I'm not gonna lie - it was a far different starting line than a Spartan obstacle race.  The men and ladies had lean runner's bodies - not the bulging muscles that I was accustomed to at Spartans. And there were a lot more shirts on. 

So we started off - and it felt GOOD to be able to get into a rhythm and go.  The first mile has a pretty good downhill, and then they roll after that. It is ran through a BEAUTIFUL Snow Canyon State Park, and then out into surrounding neighborhoods.  The second half has more inclines than declines. Here are my splits.
5:20
5:44
5:40
5:55
6:18 (eke!)
6:05
So the wheels came off a little at the end,and I was feeling the past week's fatigue. I ran a little too conservatively on the downhill portions to make up the split between 1st place (Amber Green) and I.  She really took off from the get go, and I just couldn't close the gap. 
But considering how I felt 2 days prior, I need to be SUPER happy with my performance and chalk it up to a great training run. 

I have to say the finish line goodies were wonderful for my sweet tooth:)  Lucky Charms, Popsicles, bananas, grapes, yum.  And I loved being clean!
 
So I came in 2nd place and a $50 gift certificate to St George Running Center!