Category: Ultimate Tri Camp

Ultimate Tri Camp Rockstar 2023: Dean Kennedy

by fullcircle, posted in Blogs, ROCKSTARS, Ultimate Tri Camp

Ultimate Tri Camp Rockstar 2023: Dean Kennedy

Coach Notes: Dean came to camp with an open mind and heart. We met on Facebook, and he and his partner Kathy decided to join us. They are both veteran triathletes, and I genuinely appreciate their curiosity, and the results for Dean speak for themselves.

Dean’s improvement day after day was inspiring to see. Participating in the training and all the recovery sessions we do at camp is essential to leaving camp feeling great! Check out all his great feedback and successes below. Way to show up for yourself, Dean! The results on race day will be there!

Age: 53

Profession: VP of Plastic Injection Tooling

Why did you choose Ultimate Tri Camp for help in your journey as a triathlete? I had come across Full Circle on FB over a year ago and loved Coach Erinne’s ideology and approach to training. After speaking with her and listening to some of her videos, I signed up for camp with my partner Kathy.

Please share your BIG goals and how Ultimate Tri Camp supported you: Goal #1 was to learn how to swim. In the past few years, I’ve spent lots of money and time on private lessons and frustrations in the pool and open water, all to little avail.

I got just enough to push through my two full Ironman races.

UTC was nothing short of transformative for me!

There was so much comprehensive instruction, drills, video analysis, and proper technique/mechanics teaching that it nearly made my head pop.

It was almost too much to take in all in one day, but the lessons and Coach’s voice are etched into my mind so that I can now work with everything I learned. Coach Erinne also took extra time after the group lesson to give me 10-15 minutes of personal coaching, which I learned more than in months of prior lessons.

At the OWS, I took my first successful breaths to the left side, which was like a miracle! I’m so proud and grateful for this seemingly small detail, so I chose this picture. I know now that I AM a swimmer and will only continue to improve from here. Who knew?!! 🙌🏼

Tell me about your successes so far: Going from not owning a bike or knowing how to swim (as of Fall 2018) to completing two 70.3 and two 140.6 Ironman races by 2022.

What were some of your biggest Improvements in performance at Ultimate Tri Camp?

Swim: EVERYTHING- Left side breathing, balance, feeling the water, relaxing, rotation, etc., etc.
Bike: maintaining low heart rate on climbs
Run: proper cadence and arm position
Nutrition/Health: reinforcing what Kathy has already instilled in me: eat real, nutrient-dense foods, healthy fats, remove inflammatory foods, and nothing processed.
Mindset: I AM A SWIMMER (did I say this already?!)

Did you achieve any Personal Records or Goals? Did I already mention left-side breathing?! 😂

Name 2 or 3 things you feel will make the biggest difference in your triathlon performance after participating in Ultimate Tri Camp:

  1. Proper swimming techniques
  2. Triathlon-specific strength training
  3. Mobility exercises

What excites you the most about being involved in triathlon? The challenge to push my limits and “dare to fail greatly.” Also, the sport’s camaraderie and “pageantry” (who doesn’t like their bike gear and kit!)

What was your favorite part of Ultimate Tri Camp? The incredible depth/breadth of the holistic training. It was truly the yin & yang, just like the Full Circle logo represents!

What would you say to someone on the fence about attending Ultimate Tri Camp? Straddling a fence is painful! Get your ass to UTC, and you’ll never regret it.

CURIOUS ABOUT FULL CIRCLE’S TRIATHLON TRANSFORMATION PROGRAM?
YOU, TOO, CAN BECOME THE TRIATHLETE YOU ALWAYS DREAMED OF!
APPLY HERE!

Erinne Guthrie has been a USA Triathlon Level II Certified Coach since 1999 and Chief Motivating Officer at Full Circle Coaching, LLC since 2010. Creator of Triathlon Transformation. She has been training, racing, and coaching triathletes since 1997. She is also a CHEK Holistic Lifestyle Coach Level 3, USMS Master’s Swim Coach, Motivational Speaker, Metabolic Efficiency Specialist, Mom, Mermaid, and much more.

Rockstar Ultimate Tri-Camper: Nienke Vernhout

by fullcircle, posted in Blogs, ROCKSTARS, Ultimate Tri Camp

Rockstar Ultimate Tri-Camper: Nienke Vernhout

Coach’s Notes:

Please watch our live interview for more details all about Nienke’s journey in the last 6 months.

Talk about TRANSFORMATION! I could not be more proud of her accomplishments in mind, body, and spirit.

Nienke is the perfect example of what’s possible if you take that leap and commit to yourself in a new way- you just may be blown away, discovering what you are truly capable of!!!

It’s official you are a ROCKSTAR TRIATHLETE!

Why did you come to Ultimate Tri Camp?

To revive ME. After my first triathlon in Dec 2021, I had a setback due to heavy COVID. My 4yo also caught it, and after COVID, we both had such a terrible immune system that we kept getting bug after bug.

After two months, I realized I needed to step out of this repetitive negative circle. And Ultimate Tri Camp was the perfect getaway. 

What were your “3” big takeaways?

When I signed up for Ultimate Tri Camp, I was convinced that I had way too low energy and fitness to participate in all activities and workouts.

My goal was to experience as much as possible, do at least one exercise per day, sleep, and recharge. But the moment I arrived, I stepped into this high-energy circle filled with unique and inspiring people, each with their own story and battles, and this energy instantly caught on me.

I learned that I had this Cenote filled with this great power hidden under the heavyweight of last months.

And that my body was capable of so much more. With every activity and workout, yes, my body got more heavy but grounded, and my mind became clear.

I’m very proud to say I ended up participating in all activities and workouts. And after the Camp, my body was exhausted, but it was such a satisfying feeling of tired.

Here they are:

1. Camp is also for beginners. No fitness, no problem, you will 1000% be able to participate in all activities and workouts, and you will come back stronger than ever.

2. You are capable of so much more than you think. And if you doubt it, the coaches and the amazing people of camp will help you realize this.

3. Triathlon is as much a physical as a mental challenge. The mix between workouts and the inspiring information from guest speakers, coaches, and other campers was perfect and made this a wholesome experience for body and mind.

Are you coming back next year?

Is this even a question?

VISIT THE ULTIMATE TRI CAMP WEBSITE FOR DETAILS!!

Interested in the Beginner Triathlon Program… Schedule a call with me now! WWW.SCHEDULEYOU.IN/5ZISVAU

Erinne Guthrie is a USA Triathlon Level II Certified Coach since 1999 and Chief Motivating Officer at Full Circle Coaching, LLC since 2010. Creator of Triathlon Transformation. She has been training, racing and coaching triathletes since 1997. She is also a CHEK Holistic Lifestyle Coach Level 3, USMS Master’s Swim Coach, Motivational Speaker, Metabolic Efficiency Specialist, Mom, Mermaid and much much more.

How to recover quickly after Ultimate Tri Camp

by fullcircle, posted in Blogs, Recovery, Ultimate Tri Camp

How to recover quickly after Ultimate Tri Camp

I have athletes that don’t fully understand the benefit of tapering for a race. They show up on race day feeling flat and tired and wonder why they don’t get that podium or personal best.

It’s definitely a skill to be able to tune into your body and feel if you are recovered from training or not. There are so many tools these days that you can track your training and use an APP to tell you if you should train hard or you need to recover. I use Garmin, HRV, Training Peaks to help my athletes gauge their level of fatigue but there is an inner knowing as well.

I believe in just asking your body and you usually get the correct answer. But will your ego allow you to rest? That is the question. So, I say experiment with different amounts of easy/recovery days after blocks of training days and find your own sweet spot. If you need to recover in a hurry these suggestions below work great!

Other things to consider about your recovery/taper leading up to a race. Is it short course or long? Is it an A, B or C race? “A” priority races definitely require a bigger longer recovery leading into them, if you want to have that peak performance. “C” races can be trained right through.

How many days you take is individual to you and your circumstance.
As a rule, the longer the race, the longer the taper.

  • Ironman taper can be from 2-3 weeks
  • 70.3 can be 7-14 days
  • Olympic distance 5-7 days and a
  • Sprint 3-5 days.

Some athletes need more or less depending on age and experience level.

With all that being said, if you need to get recovered fast, here are my top recovery recommendations and tools.

Sleep: Did you see that article about how much sleep Roger Federer gets a day? 12 hours!

Studies show sleep is the absolute best, legal ergogenic aid out there. My minimum RX for fast recovery is 8 hours, but 9-10 would be better for 2-3 days minimum. You will feel like a kid again with tons of energy after you get this much sleep.

Do some Working IN (my definition of building energy instead of depleting it). Examples of working in are taking a restorative yoga or Tai chi class. Don’t have that much time? Take 10-20 minutes and walk barefoot or simply lay on the earth, on the grass or the sand on a beach. Get in the ocean, lake or even a pool and just float around (not training). Meditate. Practice silence and listen to nature.

Breath Work – 1, 3, 5 or 10-20 minutes of just sitting or laying and breathing. If you type in ” Breath Work” into YouTube search there are a ton of videos teaching you how to breathe to improve energy. Try one. or check out Wim Hof – The Ice Man and follow his breathing techniques on Youtube.

Ice Bath- This can be uncomfortable but works sooooo well and is so worth it. As little as 2 minutes a few times a week combined with above breath work and meditation is like magic for resetting your nervous system and actually proving effectiveness against anxiety and depression! Even a 1 minute cold shower can stimulate the nervous system in a positive way. Check out my video here-on my Wim Hof Ice Bath Experience
(I am so excited to have just taken my first Wim Hoff Breath class and will be including his breath work and ice baths at my 2020 Ultimate Tri Camp!
Check out the breath work Video Here).

Massage – Getting a deep tissue massage every, or every other week can really help your muscles stay supple and recover quickly. 
Contact Jeff Lindsay, he’s an FC favorite!
305-720-7920 / For a soothing or invigorating in-house massage.

Compression Socks – After a training session massage and an ice bath put on your compression wear for improved circulation and ultimately faster recovery.

Normatec or E Relax – or any other brand of segmented compression can improve circulation and help you recover quickly

Hyperice Hypervolt, Theragun Vibration Therapy or Marc Pro and Compex can all be helpful modalities to help your muscled recover quickly and of course there is good old fashion

Recovery Session
Our Amazing sponsor Athletix Rehab offers awesome recovery sessions that include many of the above suggestions, without you doing the work. They do it for you, while you just enjoy.
Contact Athletix Rehab Recovery if you need physical therapy or one of their other amazing services. Don’t forget to ask for your Full Circle member discount. Ph (305) 501-0231.

If you are interested in learning more about Full Circle Coaching, call/text us at 786-586-6057 today or click this link to schedule a complimentary triathlon strategy call:  http://www.scheduleyou.in/5ZIsVaU

Erinne Guthrie is a USA Triathlon Level II Certified Coach since 1999 and Chief Motivating Officer at Full Circle Coaching, LLC since 2010. She has been training, racing and coaching triathletes since 1997.  She is also a CHEK Holistic Lifestyle Coach Level 3, USMS Master’s Swim Coach, Motivational Speaker, Metabolic Efficiency Specialist, Mom and much much more.

Recover Quickly

by fullcircle, posted in Blogs, Race Specific, Recovery, Ultimate Tri Camp

How to Recover Fast

I have athletes that don’t fully understand the benefit of tapering for a race. They show up on race day feeling flat and tired and wonder why they don’t get that podium or personal best.

It’s definitely a skill to be able to tune into your body and feel if you are recovered from training or not. There are so many tools these days that you can track your training and use an APP to tell you if you should train hard or you need to recover. I use Garmin, HRV, TrainingPeaks to help my athletes gauge their level of fatigue but there is an inner knowing as well. I believe in just asking your body and you usually get the correct answer. But will your ego allow you to rest? That is the question. So, I say experiment with different amounts of easy/ recovery days after blocks of training days and find your own sweet spot. If you need to recover in a hurry these suggestions below work great!

Other things to consider about your recovery/ taper leading up to a race. Is it short course or long? Is it an A, B or C race? “A” priority races definitely require a bigger longer recovery leading into them , IF you want to have that peak performance. “C” races can be trained right through.

How many days you take is individual to you and your circumstance.
As a rule, the longer the race the longer the taper.

Ironman taper can be from 2-3 weeks,
70.3 can be 7-14 days
Olympic distance 5-7 days and a
Sprint 3-5 days.

Some athletes need more or less depending on age and experience level.

With all that being said, if you need to get recovered fast, here are my top recovery recomendations and tools.

Sleep: Did you see that article about how much sleep Roger Federer gets a day? 12 hours!

Studies show sleep is the absolute best, legal ergogenic aid out there. My minimum RX for fast recovery is 8 hours, but 9-10 would be better for 2-3 days minimum. You will feel like a kid again with tons of energy after you get this much sleep.

Do some Working IN (my definition of building energy instead of depleting it).
Examples of working in are taking a restorative yoga or Tai chi class. Don’t have that much time? take 10-20 minutes and walk barefoot or simply lay on the earth, on the grass or the sand on a beach. Get in the ocean, lake or even a pool and just float around (not training). Meditate. Practice silence and listen to nature.

Breath Work – 1,3,5 or 10 -20 minutes of just sitting or laying and breathing. If you type in ” Breath Work” into YouTube search there a ton of videos teaching you how to breath to improve energy. Try one. or check out Wim Hof – The Ice Man and follow his breathing techniques on Youtube.

Ice Bath- This can be uncomfortable but works sooooo well and is so worth it. As little as 2 minutes a few times a week combined with above breath work and meditation is like magic for resetting your nervous system and actually proving effectiveness against anxiety and depression! Even a 1 minute cold shower can stimulate the nervous system in a positive way. Check out my video here- on my Wim Hof Ice Bath Experience
(I am so excited to have just taken my first Wim Hoff Breath class and will be including his breath work and ice baths at my 2020 Ultimate Tri Camp! Check out the Video Here )

Massage – Getting a deep tissue massage every or every other week can really help your muscles stay supple and recover quickly. 
Contact Jeff Lindsay, he’s an FC favorite!
305-720-7920 / For a soothing or invigorating in-house massage.

Compression Socks – After a training session massage and an ice bath put on your compression wear for improved circulation and ultimately faster recovery.

Normatec or E Relax – or any other brand of segmented compression can improve circulation and help you recover quickly

Hyperice Hypervolt, Theragun Vibration Therapy or Marc Pro and Compex can all be helpful modalities to help your muscled recover quickly and of course there is good old fashion

Recovery Session
Our Amazing sponsor Athletix Rehab offers awesome recovery sessions that include many of the above suggestions, without you doing the work. They do it for you, while you just enjoy.
Contact Athletix Rehab Recovery if you need physical therapy or one of their other amazing services.
Don’t forget to ask for your Full Circle member discount. Ph (305) 501-0231.

If you are interested in learning more about Full Circle Coaching, call/text us at 786-586-6057 today or click this link to schedule a complimentary triathlon strategy call:  http://www.scheduleyou.in/5ZIsVaU

Erinne Guthrie is a USA Triathlon Level II Certified Coach since 1999 and Chief Motivating Officer at Full Circle Coaching, LLC since 2010. She has been training, racing and coaching triathletes since 1997.  She is also a CHEK Holistic Lifestyle Coach Level 3, USMS Master’s Swim Coach, Motivational Speaker, Metabolic Efficiency Specialist, Mom and much much more.

How Many Days Do You Need to Recover and Why? The Difference Between a Taper and Recovery Days

by fullcircle, posted in Bike, Blogs, Recovery, Run, Swim, Ultimate Tri Camp

How Many Days Do You Need to Recover and Why? The Difference Between a Taper and Recovery Days

Many triathletes get really excited about training and tend to train, train and train until they get injured or sick or both.  Training can get addictive especially after you start to see results.  It just feels so good when you have a hard workout and see your times getting faster. However, it is equally important to rest and recover on a regular basis.  By scheduling in planned recovery days you allow your body to absorb the training you have been doing and then get back to training and ramp it up a little more. By having recovery and taper days planned ahead of time, you won’t run into the common problem of getting sick or minor over use injuries.

A Taper week is a week or few days to reduce training volume leading up to a race.  During this taper week, you want to reduce volume to as little as 25% -75% of normal training volume depending if this is an “A” race or “C” race, or a long course or short course race (“A” race means that it is a really important race that you want to peak for and really do well.  “B” and “C” races are less important and can be used for training).

The shorter the race, the shorter the taper.  This is also athlete dependent.  Some athletes do better with longer tapers than others.  The key is to try different length tapers and see how you perform on race day.  It may take a few taper weeks leading into races to find the right recipe for you.  I’ve had athletes do great on a 2 day taper for a sprint race but need a whole week for a half Ironman® and as many as two weeks for a full Ironman®. Age is also a factor here. The older you are the more recovery time you tend to need but not always!

The 2 things to keep in mind during all tapers is to include a little intensity in the workouts and to resist the urge to do completely nothing!!!

You will actually feel worse and come back weaker if you take an entire week off and eat crappy.  Aim to get a minimum of 8 hours of sleep each night as well!

For taper week training  get 20-45 min of movement in during the 5-6 of the 7 days leading up to the race.  Include a few pick-ups in intensity which I like to call ORPS – Over Race Pace Pick-ups to prevent your body from feeling stale and sticky.

A typical taper week might include the following:

Monday– Full day off of cardio but include 40-45 minutes of foam rolling and stretching, or some yoga and working IN and  lots of water with a pinch of sea salt in each glass along with clean eating, good protein and veggies.  Write out your race plan and send to your coach. (see other blogs to see what a race plan is). Visualize and imagine the details of your successful race daily to ensure the results you desire.

Tuesday– light 30 minute swim around 1200-1500 yards- Include some fast 25’s and 50’s with lots of rest.

Wednesday– 30-45 minute easy spin on the bike, stretch use your compression socks after and get a full body massage.

Thursday– 20-30 min run with 4 x 1-4 min at over race pace intensity with lots of recovery after each one and an easy 30-45 min spin with 4 x 1-4 min ORPS again.  Drop your bike off for tune up and maintenance.

Friday- mental and physical rest day-  finalize your race plan pack for your race etc.

Saturday– pre- race brick-  15 minute swim, 20 minute spin on bike and 15 minute run, all very easy with 1-4 min ORPS.

Sunday- Race Day; get a good warm up in pre- race, shorter races require longer warm ups.

 

A Recovery Week or Few Days – Is when you reduce volume, similar to taper week but there is no race.  It’s just a few days of rest and recovery to help your body assimilate all the training and then go back to training for another 2-3 weeks, typically ramping up the volume and intensity to get you ready for your next race in a few more weeks or months.  Again, you don’t want to be completely lazy during this time.  Doing yoga or a few days of really light intensity can make a huge difference in your mental and physical ability to handle the next training block.  Recovery days are essential and must be taken and planned for so your body doesn’t break down and dictate the recovery by getting sick with something much worse than a little cold or minor injury.

I can speak first hand of this.  I trained my way into 18 months of recovery because I went 6 months on 5 hours of sleep, while working full time, training hard- 12 hours a week, breast feeding and just plain over doing it.  It took me way too long to recover because I was not getting adequate sleep and taking those planned recovery days as often as I needed to!  I didn’t want to miss out on training hard but, I learned my lesson.  Now I have planned recovery days and will take them sooner than later if my body is telling me to.  So, do yourself a favor and take the recovery and taper week or days and watch and feel your body respond with more energy. strength and speed every time!

Please let me know if you liked this Blog and if there are any topics you’d like me to write about in the future.

Erinne Guthrie is a USA Triathlon Level II Certified Coach since 1999 and Chief Motivating Officer at Full Circle Coaching, LLC since 2010. She has been training, racing and coaching triathletes since 1997 and is currently taking a recovery year after two consecutive years racing at Long and Short Course World Championships.  She is also a CHEK Holistic Lifestyle Coach Level 3, USMS Master’s Swim COach, Motivational Speaker, Mom and much much more.

Coach Erinne
Full Circle Coaching
Where Performance Meets Balance