Contributed by Sian Turner, Silver Sage and O2fit-awesome-athlete!  I love those races when as a result of consistent diligent training (and having fun while we are at it) we surprise even ourselves with our performance and results. Sian did just that this past weekend at the Xterra West Championships taking a much deserved win! Read on…

Every year I say I am not going to go to the Xterra West champs in Vegas, but for the 6th year in a row I found it on my schedule.  The course is a little strange, but over the last 6 years I have become familiar enough with it that I’m starting to like it.  It changes slightly each year, for the better I think and I’ve gradually come to learn how to embrace it’s weirdness and race it for what it is.  I’ve been mixing up Xterra racing with endurance mountain biking for the last couple of seasons – I keep trying to make a decision on which to focus on but can’t quite let either one go.   Last season tuned out pretty successfully by splitting my season up into parts, training as a triathlete through until the Xterra West Champs in April, then becoming a mountain biker for the summer for the Leadville 100 MTB, before hitting the big races at the end of the Xterra season – the Xterra US National Champs, and the World Champs in Maui.  Julie of O2Fitness was on board with this same plan again this year as yet again, while I kind of feel myself being pulled towards being a full time mountain biker, I can’t let Xterra go – I love it too much!

For the last couple of years, I’ve had to work a week long trade show in Las Vegas leading up to this race – far from an ideal situation – and I’ve had pretty flat legs by the time the race came around after a long week; but this year, having exited the world of high tech sales engineering work (for now at least), I had a far more ideal lead in to this race.  I was coming off a solid performance at the Sea Otter Classic MTB XC race the weekend before so knew I had a good bike performance in me, but my swim and run abilities were a little unknown.  Debby Sullivan and I hatched a plan to make the 8 hour drive through nowhereville Nevada, leaving early enough on the Thursday before the race to get to the race venue in time for a post travel ride of the bike course.  This worked out really well; we got to drive in daylight and arrived by 3pm, our legs happy to be out of the car and on bikes for an hour, before finding some dinner and hitting our pillows at an embarrassingly early time even for triathletes!  We stayed with two of my Braveheart teammates – Tammy Tabeek, and Xterra World champ Lesley Paterson, who showed up last minute with a plan to swim one-armed due to a still healing shoulder fracture, but with piles of energy and excitement that she just had to channel into a race – she’d won Xterra Costa Rica with one arm so she could win Vegas too.  I think this is why I can’t stay away from Xterra, however much Mountain Biking pulls me in, I just love the friends I have found in Xterra – it’s the people that make it addictive.

Another pre-ride of the course on Friday morning got the legs ready to race, and we all holed up in our apartment for the afternoon to rest up and get our minds focused.  Race morning appeared before we knew it and we each went about our preparation and headed to transition.  The Pro field at this race goes of 45minutes ahead of the Age Groupers, so I got to watch the Pro swim and be there to help give Lesley some splits on her one-armed swim vs. the rest of the two-armed Pro field.  Incredibly, with a modified two armed style, she was just 50seconds off the main pack exiting the water – they were in trouble – good luck staying ahead of Lesley’s Bike and Run combo!  Watching that performance really gave me the race mindset and when our swim start came around, I was ready to go and see what I could do.  Julie has provided me with the tools for a good race strategy – take each part of the course as it comes, stay in the moment – this works whether you are having a good day or not.  You can only do what you can at each point in time, no point thinking ahead about what is going to happen later in the race, but do what you can where you are right then.  The swim is where I really have to employ this strategy – there is only so much I can do on the swim, having done only ‘just enough’ swim training to have an ok swim; so being smart, sighting well, staying calm and focusing on efficient technique got me out the water in as good a time as I could have expected – 28minutes, ok, respectable, on to the bike.

My legs felt good almost the moment I started pedaling; this could be a good day I thought, but I didn’t let my mind linger on that thought for too long.  While I was planning to ride hard and put down a real race effort on the bike, I kept Julie’s words in my head – pedal smooth, no mashing, break the course into sections.  I had the tools, now execute.  I rode smooth and strong up the first climb, passing numerous other bikers the whole way, but not taking much note of which age groups they were in or who they were, I was focused on what I was doing.  I rode the steep loose parts of the climbs really well, then let loose on the fast downhills, trusting my Scott Spark’s suspension and stability to carry me safely through the loose rubble of the desert.  I rode the first lap clean and fast and when only 46 minutes had passed heading into the second lap, with my body still feeling great, I knew I was onto a good bike time.  Last year’s 1hr50min on this course last year was being crushed and I knew it.  I pushed onto the second lap, still riding smooth and passing a few more girls who had some good time on me out the water.  I was moving well and was soon only finding men out on the course – I wonder which girls are ahead of me?  At the end of the bike I came across a girl in my age group, I made the pass before transition and headed out onto the run ahead of her, but not by much.  I wondered whether there were more in our age group ahead of us or not?  My bike computer stopped at 1hr32 – that’s quite a chunk faster than last year – the course was riding fast and the weather was much more amenable to fast times, but still, nearly 20minutes, I had to be somewhere near the pointy end of the race.

Beginning the run, I could not believe how good I felt, no heavy legs, no out of control breathing, I could actually get settled into a good pace up the paved road towards the dirt and think about how to attack the run, rather than just knowing I would find a way to struggle through it.  The girl in my age group I had just passed, re passed me near the start of the run looking strong.  I stayed focused on me, taking each hill on the run as it came; she made a gap initially but it wasn’t getting bigger, I could still see her and I wasn’t going to let her go easily.  I was running strong, even the super steep hills that I’d had to walk numerous times in the past, energy levels were good and I thought about when and how I would try and close the gap.  I knew the run course well so knew how long I had to reel her back in, but I also knew I had made poor decisions in the past about when to make my move.  At Sea Otter just the previous weekend, I had finished 3 seconds off the podium due to not attacking at the right time – I made a pact with myself about halfway through the run that I was not going to let that happen again!  I told myself that passing the girl in front of me was either the age group win, or a slot to the World champs in Maui – I had no idea if that was true, we could well have been running in 3rd, 4th, 5th place for all I knew, but a strong mind was what was going to get me back to her.  Coming into the long sand pit we’d already biked down twice and now had to run down, I got passed by a strong running 25 year old –  I couldn’t hang onto her but her speed did help me pick up a few more yards on closing the gap on my age group competitor.  With a couple of miles to go, the gap started coming down and I knew I had enough left to catch her; I focused on increasing my stride length – every inch was going to count here if I was going to get her before I ran out of real estate.  I drew on coach Julie’s words as well as asking myself ‘what would Lesley do?’ – she’d lay down the hammer, that’s what – no way she’d let her get away!  I was nearly on her heals with just a short piece of dirt, then a quarter mile of pavement left, I came across Jay, our Braveheart Xterra Wetsuits guru, on the final lap of his bike – he could see that I was chasing and it gave me an extra push – I was going to turn myself inside out to make the pass and if I did that and it failed then fine, at least I’d would have given it everything.

On the last stretch of the run, I sat for a few seconds on her heals, gathered myself and set off on a 400m effort down the pavement to the finish line, eyes forward, no looking back – I had no idea if she had come with me or not, I just remembered the 400m repeats I had cursed in training but knew I had survived.  I pulled ahead and made it to the finish without my legs or mind giving up, I’d made the pass I’d been tracking down for the whole run but still had no idea what that meant in terms of my finish position.  Turned out it was for the age group win – something I’d not come close to here before – I was also the 3rd overall amateur and had laid down the fastest amateur bike split, back up by my best ever Xterra run.  I placed 13th overall female meaning that I had surpassed a few Pro times as well.  I’d surprised myself – I didn’t know I had that race in me, but regardless of positioning I was most proud of my mental strength on the run – I could so easily have let it go, and last year’s me quite possibly would have.

Usually I learn far more from races filled with mistakes and what-if’s, but actually, the lessons here are many as well – I proved a lot to myself and gained confidence for the rest of the season.  The carefully designed training by Julie for the winter, building on a great 2014, is starting to show and the year has barely begun.  Xterra will take a back seat now until US Nationals in September and Worlds in November (it’s a long season this year!), while I head off into the endurance mountain bike world to give Leadville another shot, and also this year the Park City Point to Point race (75 miles of singletrack).

It takes a team to put together performances like this; thanks to Julie at O2fitness for a training plan I trust and most importantly enjoy, my husband Dennis for supporting me in my crazy athletic exploits, my Braveheart team for giving me inspiration and belief – along with a kick-ass Scott Spark with ENVE wheels to race, Xterra Wetsuits, On Running, Oakley, Tommie Copper, and PowerBar.  And thanks to Debby for making the road trip so fun – and even the drive back through gale force winds and torrential rain straight after the race, but it sure was nice to get home that night!  I’m sure I forgot someone so thanks to them too!

Contributed by Kristin Seibert, member of the Silver Sage-trained Bike Like A Girl RAAM 2015 team.

The last time I was asked this question on a regular basis was two years ago when my belly was swollen with a growing baby girl, and my husband and I were preparing for our lives to be completely turned upside down as we became parents. Were we ready?  Can you ever be “ready” for a baby?

Two years later, I again hear this question on an almost daily basis.  “Are you ready?”  Is our team of eight women (Bike Like a Girl) ready for 3,020 miles and 170,000 feet of relentless climbing?  Are we ready for seven days of very little sleep?  Are we ready to take instructions, make decisions, and work quickly with a crew of 16 others who are also running on very little sleep? Are we ready for constant forward motion, whether in a van or an RV or on a bike?  Are we ready for countless hard efforts on the bike with little time to recover in between?  Can we ever be “ready” for Race Across America?

A few weeks ago, while half of our team was training out west in Reno, Nevada with our coach, Julie Young of O2 Fitness, the other four of us took the opportunity to head just slightly west of Annapolis for a training ride in West Virginia with Ben Reynolds of Bike Doctor Arnold, our local bike shop sponsor.  Ben was on Team Friends Foundation, a eight-man team who finished Race Across America in 2014.  Ben does nothing 50%.  More accurately, Ben does nothing 100%.  Ben does everything at 110%.  So none of us were terribly surprised when he offered to lead us on an “epic Skyline ride” with “just a little bit of gravel”.  More precisely, the ride was 80 miles with 10,000 feet of vertical climbing and 20 miles of gravel.  It was one of those rides that I hate while I’m doing it, but will still talk about it years later as one of my best days on my bike.

I had a great ride.  After months of slogging through endless trainer sessions, I felt like I finally had the chance to prove to myself, my team, my coach, and even to my husband (who has already sacrificed a lot on this journey!) that Julie is training us well.  After hours of SFR’s (slow frequency repetitions) and neuromuscular adaptation in front of the TV, I finally put my slow cadence work to the test in the beautiful outdoors.  There is no “out-of-the-saddle” on a gravel climb, so I ground those pedals over at a cadence of 40 rpm (sometimes even less!), all the while hearing Julie’s voice in my head, “focus on efficient pedal stroke” and  “this is your weight workout on the bike.”  I worked on reducing dead spots in my pedal stroke, scraping across the bottom with my hamstrings, and applying consistent pressure to the pedals as I slowly inched up those persistent rocky climbs.

Equally rewarding was watching my teammates appear around the bend at the top of those climbs.  One by one, we conquered four mountains.  No one left behind.  No one not “ready” for what was given us.  The day brought us more than we asked or bargained for.  And Race Across America will be no kinder, no gentler, no more forgiving than that.

So are we “ready”?  Truly, we will only know the answer to that question when we cross the finish line in Annapolis and can look back at the results of all our training.  What I do know is that Julie’s training has built in us a strength and confidence that allows us to overcome whatever is handed to us:  threshold intervals into an unforgiving headwind, steep grades when the legs are already beaten down, endless miles in the darkest of nights.  This is what we will face.  This is what we are training for.  And this is when we hear our coach’s calm reminder, “endurance is a game of efficiency.  Make every pedal stroke count.”

Thank you, Julie, for your well thought out training.  We can’t wait to make you proud every pedal stroke of the way!

Contributed by Sian Turner, o2fitness and Silver Sage athlete,  her Spring Cycling Camp Diary below…

The hidden road cyclist in me jumped at the chance to join Julie Young’s 3-day Spring Training camp in Reno this past weekend.  Comprised of mainly Reno Wheelwomen, plus a couple of brave guys, and me, the 20 of us knew we were in for a tough few days.   The unpredictable April weather cooperated beautifully and we all showed up eager to learn all we could from Julie and get a good boost to our fitness and skills for the upcoming season.

Off-Bike Activation, Mobility and Stability

Julie’s program for the 3 days was expertly designed with purpose to every pedal stroke; no two days being remotely the same, yet equally challenging.  Each day began with yoga mats and mini-bands for an off-bike session comprising of bike specific strength and mobility work.  Julie demonstrated and explained numerous exercises, which when committed to long-term, either stand alone or as a pre-bike warm-up, increase pedaling efficiency, balance out weaknesses in posture or on bike movements, and develop the neuromuscular patterns required for hours and years of happy, strong, and injury-free cycling.

Day 1 – Speed and Power, and Force Development

After our clams, planks and push-ups were done, we hopped on our bikes to ride to our workout location for the day.  Day 1 took us to the infamous Air Center Crit course where we would hone our sprinting abilities, both in and out of the saddle before becoming Renshaw’s and Cavendish’s for the day to practice sprint lead-outs in some friendly competition.  This kind of riding, as a mountain biker, is about as foreign as it gets on two wheels for me, but with Julie’s explanations of achieving good mechanics for both in and out of saddle sprints, it began to make sense how this is hugely applicable to any style of riding.  Generating efficient power to the pedal by recruiting the right muscles, while maintaining strong core posture is exactly what is required for mountain biking and road racing alike.  As we rode round a 1km circle, sprinting the back 200m straight, with high cadence recovery in between, we were given plenty to think about, different techniques to try, and ways to improve each time. Riding round and round in circles was never this fun before!  To complete our sprint workout we pedaled a beautiful low-traffic rural road to add a little climbing to our day – the paved road ended after a few miles and we dirt riders were out-numbered and lost the vote to continue on gravel vs. turning back for home.

Day 2 – Hill Intervals

Day 2 began as did day 1, on our yoga mats with mini-bands taking instruction again from Julie on the off-bike exercises, each of us hoping they would wake our tired legs up ready to tackle the morning’s hill intervals.  We set out to our hill climbing location at a far faster pace than I expected – I sat near the back of our group secretly hoping my legs would come around, or the spritely imps at the front would slow down, or both.  A 30 minute warm up and we stopped to regroup and listen to Julie’s instructions for the workout.  We would be doing sub-threshold or threshold hill repeats between 8 and 12 minutes depending on where each of us were with our training; we would be focusing on smooth pedaling and experimenting with our cadence to get a feel for where our most efficient point was.

A major part of this workout also was mental – focusing on the purpose for the workout so we got the most out of it possible on an individual basis.  Correct muscle recruitment, remaining efficient while the effort increased to uncomfortable levels is a difficult, but essential skill to master for all types of rider or racer.  As a mountain biker, I am usually much happier with a hill to attack rather than a straight to sprint, and Julie’s calm but clear instructions had me ready to hit the workout with purpose, my legs all of a sudden raring to go.  Everyone set off on their own individual mission to conquer the hill several times over the next hour, each with their own goals for the session.  While it was an individual workout, having everyone else there on the same hill at the same time gave added purpose and incentive in supporting each other to achieve their best on the day.

Active Recovery Rides

On the first two days, Julie also led a late afternoon active recovery session; explaining that spinning out tired legs both aided recovery and added an element of endurance to the day.  Those that joined these rides definitely felt the benefit leading into the following day.  Not to exclude the social aspects of the sport of cycling, on the Saturday evening we all gathered for a team potluck meal.  This was a great opportunity to get to know each other better and discover more about what each our cycling goals were.  We had a wide range of cyclists present at the camp; from the Bike Like a Girl RAAM 2015 team working towards their massive task of racing across America as only the second ever 8-woman team this June, to experienced road racers and time-trialists, a couple of token mountain bikers, and a host of century riders with focused goals of increasing their endurance and skills as committed cyclists.  The evening was relaxed and incredibly enjoyable, but petered out early with a third day of riding scheduled for the following morning.

Metabolic Efficiency Training Talk

During our off-bike warm up session for day 3 – an endurance focused day with some on bike specific strength built in – we discussed whole food diets and metabolic efficiency.  Some in the group already ate ‘Paleo’ and/or knew the concepts of metabolic efficiency, some had had great results already with dietary changes for themselves, while for others these were completely new concepts.  It was a great opportunity to impart information and learn from others and everyone left on their bikes with new ideas and more questions on this and related topics.

Day 3 – Specific Cycling Strength via Slow Frequency Repetitions and Endurance

Day 3’s ride began with some hills with a difference – so called SFRs (Slow Frequency Repetitions); performed primarily at endurance pace (for today anyway), in a big gear providing just enough resistance to slow rpms to between 40 and 60.  The purpose of the workout being to highlight and work on weaknesses in the pedal stroke and to smooth everything out while performing what effectively is a functional strength workout on the bike.  This was a new concept to some who hadn’t been part of Julie’s training programs already, while for the rest of us it was a good refresher on the focus of these weekly workouts.

After SFRs were successfully completed, we split into groups for our endurance ride – one group was to hit a flatter rolling loop around beautiful Wahoe Valley, another to the top of Geiger grade (an 8mile 2200ft climb) and back, while the third would take Geiger Grade over the top to Virginia City, loop to Carson City and back to Reno.  I joined the long ride – a loop I had never done, and with nothing I’d rather being doing the rest of the day other than riding my bike, the longest loop possible seemed the way to go!  A group of us headed out up Geiger (at a pace I’d argue wasn’t exactly ‘endurance’), and, leaving some to turn around, 5 of us headed over the top to one of the weirdest (sorry, I should say, most ‘unique’) destinations in Nevada, Virginia City.  Virginia City is an original silver mining boomtown from the 1800s, which somehow has all the original buildings (and some of the people it seems to me!) from the era, including the Saloon; it’s quite the tourist destination.  Swiftly moving through the wooden boardwalks of the main street, we descended out of Virginia City with sweeping views of the Carson Valley, and before we knew it were pedaling through the back roads of Carson City (past some more very unique Nevadan landmarks!) on our way back to Reno.  It was the perfect ride to end our 3-days of cycling immersion.

Contributed by Silver Sage Sports and Fitness Lab sponsored, ProjectHero athlete Shay…

So I’ve been a NG several times in my life, if you don’t know what a NG is…welcome, because you’re a NG to the NG world!!

Thursday, March 26th at 0400 the alarm clock wails, time to load up and head down to San Diego for my very first Triathlon! Well almost my very first! I had back surgery 5 weeks ago, so when I told my doctor that I was going to participate in an Ironman 70.3 she was less than thrilled. I asked if it would be okay if I was on a relay team and only did the swim portion, she agreed!

Race day was fantastic with fog covering the water at Oceanside Harbor in Southern California, and a cool 60 degrees outside with the water temp not being much higher! This was an open water swim, that started off very mellow! But when the horn blew it was anarchy, arms flailing, kicks flying…it was great!! When we headed out to open water, that’s when the swells started and it got very choppy! I could hear seals yelling at us to either get out of their backyard or play with them, either way, I just wanted to get it over with, so I put my head down…got in the zone…and ran right into a buoy! I looked over and the guy swimming next to me was laying on his back laughing his butt off! A lady at T1 said she was laughing so hard that she forgot how to swim and almost drowned!

During my portion of the race, my back locked up with spasms 3 times, I never for a moment thought I was in any trouble or distress as the water is my second home, with the sky being my first, the others follow!! What did freak me out was losing time because my legs wouldn’t work! I know, in the swim portion it’s mostly arms, but when you cannot rotate your body left and right while trying to freestyle, it gets frustrating…well for me anyways! So instead of fighting it, I just rolled over and did the backstroke until my legs got feeling again! For the 1.2 mile swim, my time was somewhere around 50 minutes…I think, as I forgot to look or listen for the time, as well as I forgot to hit stop on my watch! My pool time is around 35 minutes, so 50 minutes or so in rough seas…with Sharks, Sea Serpents and Mermaids…I’ll take it!!

But you know what, I wasn’t there to beat a time, or anyone else for that matter! I was there for rehabilitation, to rehab my body, mind, and spirit! I met some fantastic people that were truly there to help, and all it took was for me to open up just a bit, and let someone in! I cannot thank the fine folks of the Challenged Athletes Foundation, and the many supporters, sponsors, and volunteers for their generous donations that allow this program to thrive! And let me never to forget Mrs. April Wolfe who steered me to this new avenue in my life, for setting me up with a Champion athlete, Mrs. Sian Turner! But most of all, believing in me!! Thank you!

I was asked by one of the administrators, what my future plans and goals were! I told him that I wanted to share my experiences with others who are in the same boat, that I wanted to be an Ironman Triathlete and go to Kona, Hawaii! That I wanted to go to the Paralympics! I guess they liked what they saw and heard in me as they have invited me to attend several Challenged Athletes training camps over the next few months that are geared towards Kona and the US Paralympic Team!

So now I’m back in town, it’s Monday morning and I’m at the surgery center…with my son, he’s getting his tonsils taken out…thank God! I’m also reflecting back on a weekend that allowed my wife and I to become closer, for me to compete and train, for me to come out of my shell! I learned so much this past weekend, it was simply AWESOME!!

Shay