TrainingPeaks member profile: Amanda Russell, triathlete

Although some people may be perplexed by Amanda's dedication to using her own energy to get around, her lifelong passion for an active lifestyle has also inspired many and led her down several paths, from running in high school to racing triathlons today. "I’m a triathlete now, but I’ve always been an active person and a runner in particular. My biggest passion is definitely running. I spent over 10 years running and riding a hybrid bike to get where I was going. People became accustomed to me showing up sweaty and refusing rides in inclement weather in favor of using my feet. Most thought I was a nut, but I inspired many people to get active by being so."

Gradually, Amanda's commitment to training evolved into a yearning for the racing she had enjoyed so much on her high school cross-country team. "I became obsessed with always wanting to go farther and I eventually started to miss the feeling of racing from the days of racing cross-country in high school, so I began to do a few road races in 2005. I was hooked. I love the intensity of racing."

This hunger for racing, however, eventually led her into the risky realm of over-training and injury. Although being injured kept her from running, it did lead Amanda to begin biking and swimming. "In 2006 I started thinking about eventually doing Ultra distance running – like Leadville or Western States 100 - so I started running more! I didn’t know any athletic people and with nothing but a crazy obsessive passion, I only found myself repeatedly injured until it became a pretty major chronic problem that landed me off my running feet for months and into PT. That led to a road bike to cross train and a passion for cycling with a subsequent shift of focus to accomplishing an Ironman, which meant I had to learn to swim. So I jumped into the pool one day, flopped like a fish out of water for a few months and started doing triathlons in ’07."

Despite her inexperience with swimming and biking, Amanda turned out to be a pretty good triathlete. "I knew no one and nothing except that I loved cycling, running and racing and had to swim in order to do it all and I wanted to do it as fast as I could. My injury wasn’t healed enough for an Ironman so I focused on the 1/2 Ironman (70.3) distance and found out I was pretty good, finishing in the top of my age group consistently. So my focus shifted once again from going longer to going faster."

The changes associated with transitioning from running to triathlons were initially challenging for her, but rewarding in the end. "Becoming a triathlete was a complete lifestyle overhaul. It replaced whimsy with structure and I didn’t like that at first. But triathlon has introduced me to an incredible world of amazing people, a wealth of knowledge, and numerous challenges. And even more reasons to keep playing outside!"

Amanda definitely spends a lot of time outside, training all year round. Recently, a layoff has given her even more time to train! "I train all year, every day of the week, typically, with lighter training on Mondays and Fridays. During the season a week will consist of an average of 14K swimming, 40+ miles running, and 10-14 hours cycling. And you can’t forget eating, sleeping, massage and resistance training too. My days usually started with swimming, then work, then running at lunch, then some more work, and bike workouts after work. That didn’t leave a lot of room for training with people. But a recent job layoff has resulted in training partners for running and swimming a few times a week. I love it because it helps to keep me motivated if I’m having an off day, and having someone to train with pushes me harder than I’d push myself. And there’s more laughter!"

TrainingPeaks helps Amanda easily keep track of all her training. "My first coach used TrainingPeaks, which I found to be so helpful in keeping things simple, especially coming into it with no knowledge of the 'training' process. I kept my training log right there in the workouts he prescribed and my coach could log on and read it at anytime. It was a simple way for us to communicate the daily training and an easy way for me to keep up my log. I switched coaches for the 2008 season to work with Janda Ricci-Munn (jandariccimunn.com) and got myself a power meter for my cycling. I have used a Garmin w/ HRM for my running for many years. So we use WKO+ to keep track of and analyze my cycling and running workouts and races. It’s been a great means of communicating daily feedback to my coach and provides both of us the same detailed log of training info."

During the 2008 season, Amanda accomplished her goals of remaining injury-free and improving her swimming, cycling, and racing. Although her running injury kept her from achieving the overall results she was hoping for, this has only inspired her to accomplish more next season. "2008 was my second season and the goal was to get through injury free, get more comfortable swimming and racing, and improve my cycling. All was accomplished, and thanks to the ability to share biofeedback in addition to my subjective feedback by using WKO+, Janda was able to keep me injury free and prescribe workouts to get my cycling to where he wanted and hoped to. The season brought big disappointment as well though. The lack of running leading into last year because of my injuries took its toll and I wasn’t strong enough to support myself on the run after the big bike efforts I was putting out. So the results I was hoping for did not come about. But it has only fueled me with even greater motivation to improve this year."

With the help of her coach and TrainingPeaks, Amanda hopes to achieve great results next season. "I’ll be working with Janda again for 2009. In addition to continuing to get stronger on the bike and working harder on my swim to drop a much needed several minutes from my ½ IM time, the big goal right now is to build a strong run base this winter now that I am injury free. Hopefully this will result in the race times we know I’m capable of to put me up there with the elites and pros. We’ll keep using WKO+ to track and inform to help get me to the fastest, strongest place I can reach this year. I can’t imagine training without it anymore, especially for my cycling power files."

Happy training, Amanda!