Rocksport Training

How about my husband Damien Rock? After an injury in November, he decided it was time for a career change. He has been studying SO hard all these months, and passed his personal training NASM certification test with flying colors yesterday. With his fantastic running and triathlon background, and Irish charm, I predict he will be an absolute natural as a trainer! He will be taking clients soon, and he is also on his way to becoming a Rocksport coach. I’m so proud of this guy!

Hey for any Rocksport athletes past or present (and friends and family too) we have cycling, triathlon and run gear available for order for the next two weeks

Rocksport Training | Epix Gear Rocksport Training Orders placed by: June 19th Delivered in the week of: July 29th Filter Rocksport Training Aero Short-Sleeve Tri Suit $190.00 Select options Rocksport Traning GoFierce Cycling Jersey $110.00 Select options Rocksport Training Summer Arm Coolers $35.00 Select options Rocksport Traini...

This was sent to me by Rocksport triathlete John Michael. It’s his buddy doing a sprint tri in Charleston. His wife took it. This is real. This is the stuff nightmares are made of!

We had the BEST time at Kevin Ryan’s Win Sprint Triathlon today! I don’t know if we’ve ever had such a big group of athletes at any one event, and the camaraderie was epic! Between our Rocksport team and so many friends out there, and new friends we made today, it was everything triathlon should be about- smiles, support and a heck of a party! Congrats to everyone who was up for the challenge today, whether you did the traditional triathlon, stationary bike tri or biathlon. Way to go Cheryl, Heather, Mackenzie, Leon, Jessica, Rebecca, Griffin, Shannon (her first tri ever,) Marcus, Pam and last but not least Damien, who did his first triathlon in over two years due to injury. Here is our photo dump. And thanks Rachel for volunteering! Highly recommend this fun, local event!

Big shout out to Jackson Corbett, in completing his first triathlon yesterday at the Spirit of Kona Olympic distance! This guy is on the journey from collegiate football player to Half Ironman. Just a few months ago he had never open water swam, road biked or done a brick workout and now look at him go! He won his age group and had a quick swim. Way to go Jackson! 💪🏃

Kudos to our Rocksport athletes who threw it down over the weekend!

🎊 Rachel Wilson, Kimberly Peterson and Mary Henson took on the USAT Multisport Festival Weekend Nationals in Omaha, competing in everything from the super sprint to aquathon, aquabike, relay, open water swim and draft legal triathlon. Rachel qualified for the world championships in Spain and Australia! I believe Kimberly qualified for
Spain 💪

🎊 Melody Altschuler finished third overall in a blazing 21:54 at the No Greater Honor 5k. She is pictured with the lovely Shane!

🎊 Marcus Carmicle paced the notoriously hilly and challenging Hatfield and McCoy Marathon

Nice work to you all!

Triathletes! If you are looking to get strong this summer, I’ve got an online workout program that will work some magic. “Building the Bad Ass Triathlete” is an eight week program that you do on your own time, with three workouts to alternate. One workout is geared toward swim strength, one toward bike strength and one toward run strength. Each takes about 25 minutes and has video instructions of each movement. Take your phone to your gym and the app will walk you through it. Aim for 1-3 sessions a week. $185/ eight weeks total. Holler at me if interested- I love this one and do these myself.!

We had several racers this weekend, but one athlete deserves her own post. We need to send a huge congratulations to Katie Morin, on conquering her first half Ironman yesterday in Des Moines!

As many of you know, Katie and I went to high school together in Minnesota and our dads were basketball teammates. When she first reached out about coaching, I was tremendously honored. Katie was new to triathlon, but she had a competitive swim background (which is a huge asset to new triathletes!)

Katie absolutely nailed her training. Her work ethic (as a busy, working mom) is among the best I’ve seen. She never misses a workout! And she soaked up triathlon like a sponge- creating spreadsheets for her expected splits and race nutrition, getting her first road bike and learning how to clip in, biking outside even on those chilly, late-winter days in Minnesota, and faithfully staying on top of her strength training during the hard, peak weeks of half Ironman training. And she even let her coach tag along in some Masters swims and runs over Christmas 🎄🎅

At Des Moines 70.3, we had two big goals: 1) Beat the cutoff time, and 2) See if we could come close to 15mph on the bike. Spoiler alert: she nailed both, beating the cutoff with 41 minutes to spare, and cracking 15mph on the bike!

In a decade of coaching, this performance stands out as one that really gave me all the feels! I could not be prouder of an athlete than I am of Katie. What a day! And check out the finish line video in the comments!

Race season is in full swing and I can barely keep up with everyone this time of year! Love it! Check out some of the big, adventurous things our Rocksport peeps did over the past week:

🍉 Mary Beth jumped off a 12 foot ferry boat into ocean swells en route to conquering the Escape the Cape Tri in New Jersey
🍉 Jody teamed up with Roscoe, their canine Reata and a terrier ringer (borrowed from a friend) to take on the Canine Biathlon. I wonder if that terrier knew what he was in for!
🍉Rachel N stormed onto the podium for second overall female in the Topo Trail Race 4 Miler
🍉 Katie had her season opener in the lakes of Minnesota, nailing a solid pace in the Hopkins Open Water Swim
🍉 Mackenzie rode the full century at Horsey Hundred
🍉 Marcus won his age group in a comfy 1:42 at Pisgah Farms Half Marathon

Love all these photos!

Congratulations to our runners who competed last weekend! Three of them took on the new course at Run the Bluegrass, and I hear it was no gentler than the old course!

🦄 Marcus Carmicle was top five overall in the 10k, winning his age group
🦄 Luke Roesler finished his first half of the year
🦄 Mackenzie Kirker-Head ran a solid 10k

Speaking of hilly courses, huge shout out to Justine Trybendis who was first overall female in the Prospect Road Race (basically six miles straight up a 1500 foot mountain) in NY. She then ran back down it and went straight on to the bike for a four hour training ride. This athlete is a the epitome of a bad ass, doing many of her training runs and rides pushing a stroller, and then finishing the evening off on her competitive field hockey team!

Way to go everyone! Sorry I don’t have a pic of Justine’s race!

It was an honor to speak at the Bluegrass Runners meeting last night. I enjoyed speaking and learned some new things as well!

You can tell the racing season is ramping up! We had quite a few racers this weekend, but I’ll kick it off with a photo dump from Heart and Sole Sprint Triathlon in Versailles.

Rachel and Jody finished first and second in their age group, Mary Beth won her age group by a whole twelve minutes, and Leon finished third in his age group with a phenomenal swim and bike. And I have to mention that both Jody and Leon walked the run due to injuries. Amazing! And Coach Erin snagged the first overall female.

Congrats to you all! Photo dump with both athletes and friends. We somehow managed to miss Rachel in the photos (she was too fast!)

Great opportunity for swimmers! Coach Rachel Wilson will be leading these stroke development clinics on Saturday mornings in Georgetown. If you’re looking to improve your stroke this summer, definitely take advantage of these clinics

Way to go to all our athletes who put themselves out there this Cinco de Mayo weekend:

🇲🇽Katie Morin completed her first 50 mile bike in the Fulton Gran Fondo in Minneapolis, in the midst of training for Des Moines 70.3

🇲🇽 Rebecca Berryman conquered the Indy Mini Half Marathon on a very hot and humid day

🇲🇽 Jody Shoup rode 80 wet miles in the Gran Fondo Hincapie ride in Chattanooga, flying up the hills and proving that indoor cycling and lifting will have your ready for the great outdoors

🇲🇽Mary Beth Naumann did her usual Nine Way Extra Large Pizza with Pesto and Extra Cheese and a Dash of Crazy (or whatever they call it these days) which means she raced a one mile, 5k, 10k and half marathon all on the same weekend in the humid and stormy hills of the Flying Pig

Fabulous racing everyone!

This is a useful swim video I just shared with our team. Many swimmers who use Garmin watches are not using them to their full advantage in the pool. If you are just using “start” and “stop” in your swims, you’re missing out. Watch this tutorial to learn about using the “lap” function and the “drill log” function. You can also view rest intervals on your watch instead of having to look at the pool clock every time.

How to use a Garmin watch with rest and drill modes for accurate distance log

Friday 5/10 starts our next eight-week program of online strength training- Bring on the Murph. Appropriate for all levels, you will alternate between several workouts at your convenience (people aim for anywhere between once a week and daily.)
This program will focus mostly on stability (lighter weights and bodyweight exercises.) The goal will be to prepare you for the famous Murph workout, which is typically done on Memorial Day weekend and Fourth of July weekend. There are variations available for all levels, so don’t be intimidated!
Workouts are delivered via my app Trainerize. You will alternate between several workouts, with clear instructions and videos of each exercise, as well as suggested modifications. We will have a leaderboard that will track your workouts if you want to compete for a grand prize gift basket.
Let me know if you are interested. Cost is 185 and we begin Friday 5/10. This one was quite popular last year and the results spoke for themselves!

Congrats to all our athletes who competed this weekend!

🌻Marcus Carmicle ran a beautiful 3:44 in the heat at Glass City Marathon just 13 days after the Boston Marathon.

🌻Leon, Sally and Cathy all finished the hot and humid Derby Half Marathon. All three finished high in their age group too! Sally and Cathy paced it really well. Leon has some work to do on his listening skills. He also does not recommend nasal dilators.

🌻Justine Trybendis absolutely crushed the Elizabethtown Half Marathon in NY, finishing first female with a 1:35 on a very hilly course. It looked like one hill was a 350 feet climb.

🌻Rachel Newton finished third in her age group with a strong season opener at the Dogwood Dash 5k, and 8th overall female.

Nice work everyone!

Shout out to Cheryl Lukins, who ran a beautiful 3:39 at the London Marathon this weekend (an official Boston qualifying time for her age group.) Cheryl is an incredibly versatile athlete- strong in both triathlons and marathons. Way to conquer the crowds and finish strong in London!

I stumbled upon this article today, and it is one of the easiest-to-understand articles I’ve found on fat loss, and the effects of both weight training and cardio. There is so much more to it than people realize, and this author does a wonderful job of breaking down the science into layman’s terms.

Let’s Learn About: NEAT, TEPA, BMR, TEF, TDEE, And How We Can Use Them To Enrich Our Lives The main purpose of my this blog is to make you aware of these terms, why they’re important to your health, and help you make better…

We had our first Rocksport team race this season, at the Shelbyville Triathlon today. Congrats to Rachel, Leon and George who all won an age group award. And huge congrats to Mackenzie for completing her first ever triathlon and winning a second place age group award! Love seeing everyone’s hard work pay off, and Headfirst Performance races are always a blast!

Shout out to Jackson Corbett, who finished 14th overall in the Litte Five bike race yesterday, as he trains for his first triathlon

Where are my swimmers? If you’re not incorporating this drill into your swims, you’re missing out. And it’s a fan favorite right Mary Beth?

Freestyle Breathing Drill | Paddle Cap Freestyle Paddle cap freestyle is an excellent drill for providing clear feedback on breathing technique. Paddles placed on your head will fall off if your breath is t...

How about a huge round of applause for all three of our Rocksport athletes who crossed the finish line at the Boston Marathon yesterday? On a brutally hot, spring day when the wheelchairs could barely keep up with the number of runners collapsing at the finish line, these three all made it through relatively unscathed.

💙💛 Jenny Walker toed the starting line with a goal of 3:27. She crossed the finish line in a remarkable 3:27. On a day when runners did not get anywhere near their goals, she nailed it. I don’t think she’s really human! And I’ll add she sounded cool as a cucumber when Coach received the traditional finish-line phone call!

💙💛 Shannon Million and Marcus Carmicle both suffered in the heat and still ran times that were super solid for Boston yesterday, but do not reflect their true capabilities as the tremendous athletes they are. Rather than wallowing in self pity, they both did it with a smile, embraced the suck and made me such a proud coach! Gritty performances like these pay off down the road, and I can’t wait to see what they can do when they both are 100% on a much less brutal day. Also, their post-race texts were epic. One was “I was a hot mess 🤣,” and the other was “Coach, that was hard. End of race report.”

Congrats to all three of you! Those unicorn medals were EARNED!

Kudos to our Minnesotan triathlete Katie Morin, who just missed a PR in her Brewery 5k this weekend. Katie always manages to find races where the beer flows strongly 😅 Nice work Katie!

Way to go Sally Corrigan! Sally was the grandmaster female champion at the Moosic City 10K in Nashville this weekend. Check out how close it was between first and second!

Hey guys, I ran with our old Rocksport alum Caroline Kaplan today, and she is on track for her first pro season. Her pro debut will be at St Anthony’s Triathlon in two weeks and I can’t wait to cheer her on! Make sure and subscribe to Caroline and Mitch’s YouTube channel Rise and Tri https://youtu.be/g07WgiA1PIw?si=UKzsozIX4jWaB1O7

Here are some pics of Caroline and I today in Franklin TN on our 13 miler

Where are my Lululemon peeps? I have three codes for 25% off up to 15 items through April 21, in store or online. The first three people to comment can have them!

We should all get out of our comfort zone once in a while when it comes to fitness. For me, that means finding track meets where I have other competition around my pace, even if those other runners are all 20+ younger than me. Yes, it feels a little strange and awkward to be the one of only two 40 something adults running in a college meet (thanks for joining me Aseel,) but it was a great confidence booster to finish in the midst of them, and it was also a super fun, beautiful spring day at the Berea track. I ran my first ever 1500m (5:33) and finished strong with gas in the tank, passing a few runners. I also raced an 800m but wow, that was tough on tired legs and I was about four seconds slower than I expected.